


Devil's Game

by APHTrashbin (verfens)



Series: Apocalypse Time Travel AU [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Apocalypse, M/M, Minor Character Death, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 03:38:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5232503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verfens/pseuds/APHTrashbin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Only two things England is certain he can take for granted- one, there is no personification for the United States of America. And two, their world is plagued by monsters that only one man can kill- and he is Alfred F. Jones.  Alfred, a man of mysteries that appeared in Arthur's dreams and makes him feel such strong feelings of love, despite how they had never met before.</p><p>And while Alfred had willingly agreed to this cruel fateover 400 years ago in another time and place in order to save the other nations and leave his doomed world behind at his own expense- even the bravest heros will snap under the weight of such sorrow, and leave him to become one of the monsters he's been fighting all this time- the very same people he had tried to save.  Warning for sex scenes, violence, character death and a very bittersweet ending.</p><p>REVAMPED version of Come With Me Now, once titled "Devils Game" as well, with 100% more backstory, romance, and heartbreak.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

All of the following is common knowledge in the 21st century of human civilization.

One- there is not, nor has there ever been, a personification for the United States of America. It had been common since the day Arthur had been unable to find a child to mark as his territory.

It had been common since the rag-tag group of colonies had rebelled against him.

It had been common through war and suffering, leaving him wondering why,  _why_ did England get denied the child he had rightfully deserved.

And Arthur knew one other thing that was a universal truth, a fact unparalleled by any other aside from there being no personification of America.

 _Monsters_. Monsters that were unlike the beasts of his medieval days, and unlike his magical friends- these were beasts that were killers, coldhearted and bloodthirsty for human and nation blood.

They appeared frequently, all around the world, and there never was a way to kill them- Arthur had grown tired of holding meetings year after year with the other nations to discuss these creatures- what to do about them, if they could do anything about them, what would they do if they couldn't…etc.

Except, this time, during this particular meeting, Arthur had been told they were going to have someone new at the meeting. One who was neither an ambassador, or a nation- rather; it was the one human who was caught on tape killing not just one of them, but many of them. The advent of the camera phone had led to this man being captured on tape all the time.

And, as it happened- this monster hunter was coming to the UN meeting today.

And England was eager to meet the man that defied the unspoken rule- the rule being that no one could kill those monsters.

He watched the video once more, staring at the footage of a man standing over a monster, preparing to shoot the beast when he had been caught on tape.

He turned around, his head a crop of messy hair, which was so coated in blood it was impossible to tell what color it was, but the eyes were what had struck out to him.

They were dull greyish blue, and they turned back to the on looking cameraman with such a ferocious intensity, that Arthur could feel the glare coming through the screen.

" _Hey, kid- get out of here with that thing."_  His voice- oh heavens- it was undoubtedly part of his strange allure. It was gravelly, and vaguely upset, and the man turned around after having shot the creature, before walking over to the off-screen camera man, and there was the sound of the teenager arguing, before the sound and video was cutoff.

Arthur thought it would be very interesting to meet this mysterious, attractive monster hunter, let alone the fact he looked almost like Arthur's image of an ideal partner,  _matched up from dreams that were only half-remembered, of strong arms and a warm smile._

The man was arriving shortly, so Arthur would have to put on his best face- and find out who he is, what he's like and most importantly…

Why did he look almost exactly like that man of Arthur's dreams?


	2. Act I

Life was rather complicated now, it seemed. And… it was kinda fucked up, too. Alfred thought wasn't too bad, all things considered. Especially since he was could have just…stopped existing. The man supposed that his current predicament wasn't that bad, with that tidbit of information kept in mind.

However…. fighting off monsters for what very well  _could_  be eternity wasn't that great an outcome, either. Especially considering his only other option was to  _become_  a monster himself, and allow his sacrifice to mean nothing.

And  _that_  outcome- though it was overly simplified- was summarized succinctly in the words, "Nah, bruh."

Nearly 400 years ago now, Alfred had made a crucial decision. It had been the year 2020, when the world had gone to  _absolute shit_ , when he had decided he would sacrifice himself to save everyone else, and let them- his fellow nations- live on in a timeline where he had never existed as a nation, have never been found by Arthur, yada, yada, yada. His land was still there, but Alfred F. Jones, the personification of the United States of America, had never been there to begin with- well, not as America, but rather, as a human that wasn't ever able to be named by them. He was gone from the hearts and minds of those he had held dear in life.

If they ever said aloud who he had been, then it was game over for everyone.

Well, that wouldn't have been so bad… had it actually  _meant_  what he  _thought_  it meant. It did not mean that his Arthur was saved from the fate they had carved out for themselves. No. It meant, rather, that a new, parallel Arthur was made, one who had never known Alfred. Unfortunately…the Arthur that Alfred had loved was…well. He wasn't very….

Well.

If he said it was hard to come to terms with even now what the people he had held dear had become, it wouldn't fully encompass all of his grief and frustration on the matter, but he doubted that there were enough words in the world to explain his feelings on that.

If they had been human like before, they were nothing even close to human anymore. Maybe they sometimes looked like it, but they were…monsters now. And nothing more than that, and it was sad to think about that.

For the most part, the beasts that were once his friends and family knew only sorrow, and the happiness they had once known were only flickers of light in the blackness of their despair.

Alfred had been tasked with keeping them in line in exchange for the second chance of the world, and he had only managed because he did his best not to think about how horrible of a fate it was for his loved ones, and himself. It was especially cruel- since they couldn't die, not permanently. Permadeath was too much of a luxury item for them, it seemed. He did his best not to think about how he hadn't saved them at all- rather, he had only drawn out their suffering- since that was the only way he could still look at himself in the morning.

And so Alfred had fought hard, for over 400 years, finally reaching the year that the apocalypse had occurred in the original timeline.

And he was fucking tired. TIRED. He was tired of all this fucking BULLSHIT.

He would have much rather disappeared when he had made that deal than to have this cruel fate given to him, but to no avail. Alfred was trapped. Trapped in this awful existence, knowing that one day his strength would fail him and he would  _become_  one of them. Life was less  _complicated_ and more  _completely and utterly fucked UP!_

And he wasn't the only one trapped. Oh no. The cruelest piece was certainly that he had to watch his loved ones suffer, and then kill them, in order to have people he had never come to know survive and flourish in light of their suffering.

Oh well, he had to keep on trudging- it was for  _him_. Alfred had promised him long ago. And he was no quitter! …Or, at the very least, he tried to convince himself that he wasn't.

XXXXX

The worst part was that Alfred had done his best for centuries to avoid being seen. All it had taken to be caught was a ballsy 12 year old and a smartphone in the North American nation, where he had been caught on tape killing his brothers monster yet again.

" _Hey, kid- get out of here with that thing."_   _Alfred had been supremely irritated with the 12 year old, who gawked wide-eyed at him, and though Alfred walked over with an air of finality and authority, demanding that the kid hand over the smartphone, it was then that the boy finally decided to heed his words and take off at a sprint._

_Less than 24 hours later, and Alfred had become somewhat of a global phenomenon._

_The world had finally discovered the one who was capable of destroying the monsters that had plagued them for centuries- those which had hindered and helped the development of mankind and the worlds civilization, Alfred had to note._

_On a very interesting note, it looked as though much of war had been wiped from this earth- instead; a sense of cooperation had taken hold over them. They were all likely victims of a monster attack. It made complete sense that humanity would bond together to maintain order._

_Well… it made sense in this world. Alfred had a parallel set of memories where the world had been faced with monsters and had fallen apart in the course of only a few months._

And it had led to David, the man who was currently taking Alfred under his wing and showing him the nations, finding him and asking him to attend a UN Meeting. Alfred couldn't really bring himself to appreciate it, really…he was just….  _tired_. He knew all these faces. They were as familiar to him as the palm of his hand. But he couldn't do anything but pretend he was simply human, and so he a feeling of something between resignation and exhaustion settled over him, leaving Alfred almost numb, but not quite, and what wasn't numb hurt like he hadn't hurt in a long time.

This had been a mistake, to come here, he realized absently as depression started to fall over him, having mild trouble in the recent decade keeping track of when his grip on reality faded and slipped into memory of another time and place. It would be hard to deal with that, and prevent the nations from suspecting anything of him.

"Thank you so much for coming out here today, Mr. Jones." David smiled politely. "It is truly an honor that you, the man that we know has been killing these beasts successfully, is with us today."

"None of these…nations…know me, correct?" Alfred voiced his concerns, quiet, attempting to conceal what he knew as best he could. "Have you shown them the videos?"

David sighed, trying to figure out how to word it properly for Alfred. "Well, the United Nations took the video from the web, so, I  _suppose_  they could have watched it, but as I am only the human American ambassador, I cannot speak for the other nations. We also have no American nation, so I've never really met any of them personally." At this, Alfred's gut clenched in his chest, the mention of the missing American nation making something in his chest ache, before he nodded, and tried to swallow his grief.

"Well, why isn't there an American nation?" He asked, playing dumb pretending to be too curious for his own good. He knew the answer full well by now about why there wasn't one. It was because Alfred couldn't be their nation.

The human side-eyed him, but only shrugged. "No one can say. Not a one has appeared."

He saw Canada and France chatting lightly as they went off, and Alfred caught his once-brother's eyes, before turning away, trying to go back to talking to David. But, David noticed where his eyes had strayed.

"Hey! You look an awful like that one!" He pushed on Alfred lightly, and Alfred frowned.

"Maybe…" He mumbled- maybe once in a different life, when things were different and he had known of Alfred. He started to head into the room, not noticing that Matthew was looking at him oddly, before his not twin brushed it off.

Alfred sat at the human meeting, standing as they introduced him as the famed monster-hunter, his eyes dull, while undoubtedly nations discussed things in the other room, just across the hallway. Alfred had a crazy idea, and though he tried to dissuade himself, once it was in his head, he couldn't. During break, he went to the bathroom, and went to the wrong room-the one across the hall.

The one he didn't belong in any longer.

He saw that no one was inside here at first, and so relaxed. This place held so many of his memories. He sighed, and looked up to the mantle, and saw even his image in the picture among the creators of the UN was…gone. He closed his eyes, and sighed.

However, the quiet was not to last, as he heard footsteps, and tensed.

Then he heard awfully familiar voices. "Canada, who do you think the man you saw was?" It was undoubtedly England.

Well, shit. They were talking about him.

"I don't know." Canada murmured, thoughtful. "He looked almost exactly like me. I can't help but think I know him."

Alfred dropped to the ground, and tried to escape without having to show off. They stopped talking, quite abruptly.

"Did you hear that?" England said, suspicious.

But… He swore that he hadn't made any noise…! And that was when the ringing in his ears started. Oh, oh fuck! Not this! Who was it?! What one of them was it?!

Alfred launched himself out to their line of sight. "Get out of here!" He screamed as he got himself up from his hiding place. "You know they're coming!" He turned around, and threw his coat off, grabbing his guns, and trying to make sure they couldn't see his face.

The monster coming for him threw him back, hitting the wall roughly, and Alfred scowled as he realized he hadn't gotten a good enough look at it to tell which one of them it was.

He heard Canada and England jump back, but Alfred was thankful he had taken the brunt of the blow for them. "Get out!" He said, furiously. "Do want to die?!"

"We're going to get help, sir!" Canada said, immediately.

"Don't do anything stupid." England said, the advice coming belated, but then it was quickly followed by, "Not even gods could stop those things."

"Ohh?" Alfred asked, quietly, smiling a bit. "Then, I suppose we haven't  _met_. I don't think I'd call myself a god, though…. more like…a devil." He took his safety off. "Get out. I can handle it. Evacuate the building."

Another blast came, and though he avoided it swiftly, Canada and England were thrown out the door, which was probably a good thing. Alfred used his abilities to force it shut after them, and locked it quickly.

"Which one of ya is it?" He laughed almost manically, waiting for them to reveal themselves. Out of the darkness, he saw a shadow moving silently, and prepared himself, before he realized that it was simply Gilbert. "Gil! What are you doing?" He jerked back in surprise, staring wide-eyed at the zombie.

"Don't hurt her…" He murmured, looking rather dazed, and mopey, and that's when Alfred realized why he was here.

"Fuck." Alfred complained quietly, and he barely managed to move out of the way in time for the monster that used to be Elizaveta jumped out at him, her breasts hanging out, in her black and gold body, her 4 eyes in the mask watching him in what felt like  _judgment_ , her hair blowing in the wind of the broken window she had jumped through. She crawled on all fours, jumping towards him with efficiency.

He started shooting at her, but Gilbert got in front of him, stopping him with dulled red eyes. "D-Don't hurt her!" The zombie-undoubtedly under her enchantment at the moment- begged him, but Alfred pushed him to the side, shooting at her full force.

Unfortunately, she jumped out of the way and made Alfred miss her entirely, landing on Gilbert and taking off her mask to reveal her maddened face, her true face that was pure and yet completely and utterly corrupted. The monster vomited that hallucinogenic into his mouth once more, making him pass out and experience what she wanted him to.

The only way to free Gilbert now was to kill her all over again, and he sighed, feeling somewhat resigned.

"What the fuck, Liz! Why do you  _always_  do that to him?" He drawled his question out, accent made thick with exhaustion. Even knowing she couldn't hear him anymore than he could understand her, he felt obligated to say something to her, to justify himself to her... Alfred then aimed his gun, and shot her torso up, firing into her unsuspecting form. She shrieked, and glared back at Alfred with her maddened green eyes.

But, the woman bled from the fatal gunshot wounds, and he saw the red dripping from her neck. Slowly, her face dissolved into sorrow, and her form burst into light, revealing Elizabeta as she had been in life, before she faded away altogether, green eyes closed in her torment and regret.

He looked around them, and sighed. "Well…A+, Alfred. You're not even part of the UN anymore and you managed to force them to refurbish the place so that doesn't look like it belongs to old men! Good job!" With his speech to himself over, Alfred went over to Gilbert, and picked up the zombie before he threw him over his shoulder. Even though he had been here for the meeting, he no longer was in the mood to talk about these escapades, not with the guilt of killing Liz once again on his hands…

Alfred suddenly burst into fevered laughter as he looked out the window, and madly wondered if he could recover from the 100-story fall he was going to make if he truly jumped out of the window of the UN building, not really wanting to deal with any of…at least, not now.

Oh, whatever at this point. Did it really matter? He seemed pretty impermeable to death at this point, so…he saw the chance to make a cheesy reference, and he took it.

"Yippee-ki-yay motherfucker!" He whispered as he leaped out into the night.

He jumped off, with Gilbert in his arms, just as Canada walked back into the room, staring open-mouthed at the carnage while a stranger that looked incredibly like him jumped  _out the fucking window_ with  **Prussia** , of all people for reasons that the nation couldn't explain.

Well, this had not been an ordinary day.

XXXXX

Once Alfred had his  _bones_  back in order from the fall, he knew he had to head out, and  _fast_. Time to disappear for the night, yeah? So, he stuck Gil's body in the trash, and quickly started on his path out. He figured he'd grab a coffee, it was getting late after all, and he had a long night ahead of him…

But then he heard Gilbert start complaining about Alfred's brutish methods, ( _what, with leaving the trash where it belonged?),_  and so went back to get him before he had taken 10 steps forward. Somehow that felt like a metaphor his life, and reminded him of that bad cooking England had once made for him looked like on the way out, be it up or down. That last thought was a little more than he wanted to think of, but it made him slightly nostalgic. Goddammit, he was going soft! No way was he actually…actually missing Arthur's terrible cooking…

Gilbert kicked his shin from where he was being held up by Alfred, and Alfred grimaced as he reoriented himself. That time was gone- don't think about it. "Oi!" He shook him, frowning. "I'm going to get fucking coffee…" He set Gilbert down on the ground, making the zombie grumble about the disgrace, but he simply folded his arms.

Alfred rubbed his temples, and went into the coffee shop, smiling at the barista kindly. He walked up to the counter, before ordering a black coffee, with a couple espresso shots inside.

"Why, hello again, stranger…" Oh shit. It was undoubtedly England, from the snooty voice that was trying  _way too hard_ to be sultry. Alfred sighed in an almost nostalgic manner, before turning around with a smile that hid such wistful thoughts. England was looking him over, smiling approvingly, probably because of his body…dirty old man. "I see you got out of there just fine, it seems that Matthew was over exaggerating when he said you jumped out of the building at our floor."

Alfred wanted to tell him so badly to just  _fuck off;_ he didn't have enough fucking coffee for this…not right now. Please, and thank you.

Instead he nodded, trying to play along, give England the answer he was undoubtedly probing for from Alfred, and then get out of there. "Yeah! I'm just fine! And, well, actually, I was brought in by the UN to talk about my profession!"  _Profession, ha._  "I've been hunting them for a few years, and had some knowledge of how they work…"

England looked interested. "Is that why you were in there?" And Alfred nodded, sighing as he saw Gilbert open the door, trying to discretely sign to him to back off- this wasn't Arthur- this was  _England, and he couldn't know all about this._ "That's interesting. So you are the hunter of those beasts. Who was the one that destroyed the meeting room, if I might ask?"

"She's the one I call…Liz." He finished awkwardly, looking to the side as he flinched at how weird that sounded, but he didn't want to give her away or give  _himself_  away for knowing things he shouldn't know in this timeline.

"Liz?" England's face screwed up in bafflement, his brow furrowing as he digested this particularly  _peculiar_  piece of information. "That's a very normal name for such a…creature." Alfred knew that he had meant to say ghastly or hideous or vicious in the pause, but he let it slide, since he generally agreed, that monster Liz was a bitch to fight.

"Yeah!" He nodded fervently, but coughed. "Well, uh." His discrete hand waving to Gilbert obviously hadn't made it through the zombie's dead skull, since he had walked in, and was now openly gawking at England and Alfred. "Well! It was my guess she was human once! She takes on a human form once you kill her!" Gilbert's eyes widened, before they narrowed a scowl, and the zombie raised a single eyebrow in an obvious motion that said, " _Really, Al?"_

"Well, uh." Alfred coughed again, needing to make an exit quickly, since Gilbert was refusing to leave without him. "I should go."

"You haven't received your order, though…" Arthur pointed out in surprise, and Alfred laughed, nervous and tired and  _stressed_ and not handling the situation well now that he was actually in the vicinity of Arthur Kirkland, the real one,  _England_. His lover, friend,  _and_   _he could feel the soft lips on his cheek- they couldn't kiss because of the parasite inside of Arthur. But, as he lay dying in Alfred's loving hold, Arthur told him to take care of his books, to make it back to their home, to finish what they had started together… but the creature was eating at Arthur's sanity, eating at_ _ **Arthur**_ _from the inside out…_

Alfred suddenly choked as the duality of the image jarred him back to the reality, where this Arthur had never known that death- had never known  _him, Alfred-,_  and started walking toward the exit, to where Gilbert was shambling to the door again. "I'm actually an idiot! I already had my caffeine designated for the day!" He tried to make excuses, but England only followed him, shocked with the change in behavior.

"W-Wait!" England stopped him suddenly, biting his lip as he took something from out of his shirt, and shoved it into Alfred's hand. "H-here's my number. Not that you should call it for personal reasons, but, if you know something about those monsters that you wish to only tell…. non-humans, you shouldn't be a stranger to us…or myself. Please do go ahead and call me, and say all that you know- and be sure to tell me what we can do to help."

"Ah." Alfred nodded, taking the scrap of paper and putting it gently- reverently, almost- into his pocket even though he knew the number by heart. "Thanks, but, uh, I should get going."

Arthur nodded. "Good luck." England told him stiffly, though it was simply to cover disappointment, the expression uncanny to the way…well.

"Thanks!" Alfred said, loudly as he walked away, before he muttered, "I don't need luck at this point- I need this to be over…"

Gilbert pat his back roughly as the two fell in step with each other, the zombie slinging his arm around Alfred to tie his friend to this timeline, and keep him on his feet.

Alfred didn't want to admit it, but his knees were knobbling, his hands were shaking.

He had never allowed himself to get that close to this England before, for precisely this reason.

Fuckin' shit man- this was too much.

XXXXX

Once they were long departed from the coffee shop where they had run into a real, genuine nation, Alfred sighed, sitting Gilbert down. "God dammit, Gil." He muttered. "That wasn't Arthur."

"It wasn't?" The albino asked, raising an eyebrow, before he snorted. "Were you  _fraternizing_  with the official nations now?" Alfred shot him a look, and the zombie snickered. "God, you were, weren't you?" He started to laugh full out. "Man, it's been hundreds of years, and you stayed out of their sight for this long- what happened?"

"Yeah, well- I was invited to the UN to speak on the monsters." He grumbled, before sighing. "Humans do tend to notice us... usually them, but now me as well..." He muttered, rolling his eyes. "I mean, I am the one responsible for killing the monsters…they kinda notice when I manage it- I had figured that it was only a matter of time before the nations picked up on my presence too."

Gilbert nodded, shrugging. "Meh. I think it's funny, was England flirting with you?" The zombie suggested with a dirty grin, waggling his eyebrows to tease his friend, and Alfred's face scrunched up in distaste.

"Dude." Alfred muttered, making a face like he had eaten something incredibly slimy. "I knew he was bad about sleeping with humans, but for God's sake. Does it have to be so… ironic?" Alfred sighed, and looked up at the sky while they walked away. "This isn't funny, fucker! You knew what I meant when I said I wanted to save the nations!"

Red eyes looked at him worriedly. "Al, you  _really_  take too much responsibility on your shoulders…" He said, patting his back. "ANYWAY, loser, I'm in danger because my bro-not bro is here." He said, grinning. "Germany's in town, and so is my other me. While I generally would agree that a meeting of TWO Prussia's would simply be too awesome to handle…my appearance with our Liz and our Lutz and our Roddy tend to paint me in a bad light. And unlike them, I still look like me, err, him! So he'll be in danger too, since we look exactly alike!" His hand took the cue for an inopportune moment, and fell off, leaving Gilbert to sigh. "Well, mostly."

Alfred snorted. "While I would agree that two Prussia's meeting each other would certainly be too much to handle, but I don't think  _awesome_  would be the word I'd use, unless you're using the word "Awesome" as in the phrase, awesomely terrible." The zombie threw his disconnected hand at Alfred, and the blonde had to laugh. "What! I'm just telling the truth- and you know it."

Gilbert walked over, and picked his hand back up, and held it with his other hand to his mouth, the disconnected hand flat against his cold lips. "I am simply shocked by this…reckless mutiny!" He leaned back, his one hand holding his dismembered hand against his forehead as though he was a fainting woman. "Goodness me!"

Alfred took his extending cane, and whacked Gilbert in the chest playfully, but accidentally knocking his head off its precarious place on his shoulders since he was already leaning back. "Whoopsie- shit, Gil!" He grinned. "Gotta keep your head in the game!"

The zombie raised an eyebrow and grumbled at the awful reference, before he yelled. "Oi! Useless, useless limbs! Over here!" His body was fumbling, his hand still held in the other, and therefore his limbs were unable to grab him. "Ugh, Alfred, stitch me back up, will you?"

Alfred snorted, but agreed- Gilbert was his only friend, it sometimes felt like, in this new universe.

The two talked casually about the state of affairs, Gilbert seemingly bitter that Prussia was still an official nation in this timeline, and Alfred telling him to suck it up- at the very least, he, Gilbert was alive to see it.

"Yeah, but I'm not Prussia anymore!" He squawked in displeasure.

His upset was only met by soft laughter.

Once Alfred had  _mostly_  stitched his Prussia back into one piece, the zombie sighed. "Ugh. What will you do now?" He asked, curious of the actions of the only true nation left from their universe.

The blonde sighed. "Honestly?" He looked to the sky, blue now, but like the color his own eyes- though once blue, they had come to reflect the grey skies that had been his world when he had made the deal. The one that was gone now.

He still remembered what had happened, the deal he had made that day, when the world was dying and he had nothing left- not his friends, not his brother, and not his beloved, Arthur.

" _Are you certain of your choice, America?" The goddess like woman was asking him, her eyes that were black, the color of the vast universe, staring into his soul to judge his merit._

_He looked to her, his blue eyes firm when he answered her, looking directly into her eyes without fear of whatever was to come. He had lost all traces of fear when Arthur had begged him to shoot him before the parasite fully took him over, and Alfred had done as his beloved had asked._

" _I'm sure. There is simply nothing else to be done, at this point."_

_He knew that the only solution was to change the past once he had put the bullet between Arthur's eyes, killing him instantly. But if he were honest, he had known it since Matthew had fallen victim to whatever had plagued their world, since before then. Since the apocalypse had begun. It only became real that they couldn't fix their timeline when Arthur pushed Alfred out of the way and absorbed the parasite into himself instead. When Arthur had fallen victim, it was clear that their world couldn't be saved, but instead, this had to be prevented. "I am willing to do whatever it takes to stop this madness."_

_"You won't be able to come back to where you are now." She reminded, tapping one long clawed nail on her chin, her form shifting, oozing around them, incorporeal in a way that was almost disconcerting. "This would be where your world ends- where this timeline ends. And the one that you will be placed in is not the same as this world was. You wouldn't even be known in the new one- your very_ _ **existence** _ _would cease to matter to the world you are creating. Not one of them could ever say that you, Alfred F. Jones, are America until after your end of the deal is held up."  
_

_Alfred grinned. "Well, I know it won't matter to them! If they don't know me, how can they miss me?" He nodded firmly. "It doesn't matter- even though I won't be important, this- this will be important. I will have done something to save them, even if they don't ever realize it!"_

" _So- you understand the consequences, and you allow them to occur." She said, her voice a low purr, asking for final confirmation from him._

" _I don't mind them." He nodded, looking to the sky, imagining the blue of his youth, of his eyes, of the ocean. "I'm not afraid anymore, not of this. Anything would be a better fate than this one that has befallen this world. And I do understand- I understand the consequences, and I fully accept them."_

_The goddess smiled, her infinite eyes boring into his soul, and Alfred felt like he had begun to burn from the inside out. "The deal is set- you will constantly fight off the ghouls of your past, and in return, I shall remake your world anew." She nodded, and kissed him on his forehead. "Good luck, Alfred F. Jones." She murmured. "I look forward to seeing the world your sacrifice is going to make."_

_Alfred nodded, taking a deep breath in. He took the toy soldier out of his pocket, and sighed as he rubbed at the damaged wood. "I honestly hope that Arthur will survive without me in his life. Idiot didn't know what to do without me before all this anyway…I can only imagine what that will be like if I don't exist the way I do now." He said to himself, before closing his eyes._

_The goddess took a deep breath as well, putting her hands on his chest, closing her eyes as she sunk her hands into his chest, her hands gripping his heart, his very_ _**soul** _ _as a nation. The burning from his heart began to fill him, and then escape his body- and the world around him began to burn as well. He hardly heard her final warning, but the words were still important, so he tried his hardest. "If you cease to fight, if you give in to the ghouls of this burning world…you will become one of them yourself, and you will lead the world you sacrificed yourself…to ruin, young boy. Do well to avoid that end."_

_And then, Alfred had known no more, fire consuming everything around him._

Of course, he had woken up in Pre-Revolution America. He had left his home quickly, leaving behind the man he had been before. He wasn't America. His name was  _Alfred,_ and his only purpose was to hunt those "ghouls" she had specified that he had to fight.

He didn't understand what they were until they had come for him, searching him out for answers as much as Alfred searched out to kill them.

He hadn't realized then, that the "ghouls" were his friends, family, loved ones…they were all still trapped in the hell that Alfred had tried to save them from.

Alfred had wept as he cradled Canada's body, the façade of the monster he had become falling away to show his brother, dying once again, even though he knew an entirely  _new_ Canada had been newly found by France, and Alfred had put the bullet through the monsters brain himself.

He screamed at the goddess he had made the deal with, for tricking him. This is not what he had wanted. He hadn't wanted them to still suffer like this. He had wanted them to live!

But his cries remained unanswered entirely- this was what he had agreed to.

They remained unanswered to this day, in fact.

Eventually, he had found the very few of his friends who knew him as he was- Gilbert, for one. Belgium also retained much of her sentience, though she was bound to attempt to kill humans all the same, whereas Gilbert was a little more free on that issue. Switzerland participated in keeping track of killing the Germanics and much of Europe. Japan was fully committed to killing his siblings and friends- despite how he still tried to kill Alfred as well.

Gilbert had simply told Alfred that their friends and loved ones did not suffer as they were, for the most part.

" _Well, when I was turned into a zombie, back in the other place." Gilbert sighed. "I was, well, mindless. Wanting to eat brains and all that stuff. I didn't know what I was doing until the second after my lil bro had put a bullet through my head. Now, I wake up here, and Lutz- my Lutz-" His voice had cracked. "He was like me, unknowing of what I was, who I was. Focused only on killing. Which is why…which is why I killed him, to release him of that…that fate." Gilbert had sobbed a bit. "But he's not free, he's not free Alfred. He cannot be freed anymore. He's stuck like that. Forever."_

" _Forever."_  Gilbert's word then had echoed in his mind, and it still did, honestly.

Alfred was stuck like this, until the moment his strength gave out and the new nations that he had sacrificed all this for- they would become his prey as well.

"I don't know what I'll do Gil, I don't know." He sighed, and Gilbert nodded in understanding, getting up and walking away.

"Well, I'll be around if you wanna talk bout it, Al!" The albino zombie shouted back into the night, before he was gone.

And then he was left alone, Gilbert obviously needing some time to think on his own, just as much as Alfred needed to think on his own as well.

XXXXX

Life was never that simple for Alfred F. Jones, though, it seemed. It never could be that easy, right?

Literally, no sooner after he went back into the UN meeting, every ambassador there applauded him for having killed another monster.

Alfred felt sick to his stomach. They congratulated him for saving the many lives of the people at the meeting- humans and nation alike, but they didn't know,  _couldn't_ know that Alfred himself had lost someone, once again.

It was torture, pure torture, knowing he had been fighting this long, and now he was planning alongside humans who had no idea that these monsters were possibly doomed to live forever, much like himself.

There was no escape, not for the new nations, and more pressingly, not for the monsters who were his friends and family and  _beloved_ , and not for himself.

Nations soon sought him out along with their ambassadors, smiling at him and inquiring why he did what he did, welcoming him in for their own politicized reasons, asking if there was a secret about doing it, and more.

Russia- his monster was a true behemoth, a giant nameless thing that would charge at you and kill you with blunt force or the tusks on his head. Russia now asked Alfred for the secret behind whatever trick he had in killing them, clearly desiring to be able to do the same.

China, his monster was an honest-to-god dragon, one who Alfred had been burned by more than once. Now was talking conversationally with Alfred, Japan and Hong Kong off to the side, talking quietly about family matters, and Alfred almost choked.

China and Russia and India all were talking about how they could pay off some of America's debt in return for having their monsters culled by America's hunter. It was dizzyingly familiar to when they were harassing Alfred in his time as well, saying that they needed his money, money that Alfred didn't have then.

His ambassadors looked interested in the prospect, but David took him out of there. "Alfred? Are you okay?" He asked as they finally were alone again, and the man wiped Alfred's sweaty brow.

"…Yeah, sorry." Alfred said, feeling sick, the Déjà vu becoming a little too much for him. "I'm not…used to large crowds…." The lie felt hollow, but there was no other explanation for it other than the fact that Alfred had seen all of these people die already, in another lifetime- one that no longer existed.

The American ambassador nodded, roughly patting Alfred's back. "That's fine, Alfred. Everyone's just excited- you have been the only person who has ever been able to kill those things! We just…want your help." He said, trying to be sensitive with the hunter.

Alfred nodded, smiling tiredly. "Yeah, I suppose…." He trailed off, and David let the silence fill the room, before suggesting that Alfred go get a coffee to reinvigorate himself.

"You know where the shop is, according to the British nation." David chortled, and patted Alfred's back again. "Go ahead, I'll tell them you've gone to the restroom."

The ex-nation walked slowly to the elevator, and entered it with a deadened stare, trying to remind himself that he had done this to himself, that he had done this to give these nations a better life… However, the door opened on the next floor down to his chagrin, but he was surprised to see the person who had called the elevator in the first place.

Shocked purple eyes looked at him, the man seeming just as surprised as Alfred was. "It's you!" Canada said, gaping at the enigmatic man known for killing monsters.

Alfred grinned, nodding. "Yeah, it's me…sorry 'bout wrecking the place last night." He said, grinning a bit. "But, ya'll did really need to redecorate it…it looked like an old man did the interior design…" Which, Alfred knew full well to be true, judging how the place looked uncannily like he knew Arthur's home to look from memory. Not that Matthew needed to know that all. It would be better if he didn't know all that, actually.

After a moment's laugh, and Alfred's interesting words, the nation who was almost like his brother looked around, before realizing something. "Are…are you going to get something from the coffee shop?" Canada asked, smiling a bit, as he looked Alfred over curiously. "I, I'd like to talk to you, I mean…"

The man looked tiredly at Canada, his brother's face only slightly changed in the years of not having a brother for a personification- he was more confident, Alfred noted with a small smile. "Eh, what's the harm in it?" He asked rhetorically, chuckling. "The one with the massive eyebrows was hitting on me all last night, I'd just like to say that I definitely prefer your methods to his."

And Canada laughed, snorting as he thought of it. "England, you mean? Yeah, he apparently has a track record of going at humans…"

Alfred shrugged, and the two left the elevator surprisingly in synch with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, it should be obvious now that this story, though following the same timeline of events, has some very distinct differences!! Next chapter there will be even more obvious differences.


	3. Act II

"Now, whatever opinions you may form of me, and what precisely I am- you have to keep your mouth shut." Alfred explained to Canada over his caramel macchiato, hiding his mouth behind the cup.

Canada looked at him strangely, seemingly uncertain that Alfred had turned the tables on him- he had come here in order to ask Alfred questions- not the other way around, but Alfred was firm. "Why? And why trust me with this information." He murmured. "If I can't say what I think you are, doesn't that mean it's dangerous information? Doesn't that mean  _you're_  in danger?"

Alfred's smile was slow, but surprisingly it felt familiar- this whole situation, Canada sitting across from him at this same coffee shop with disapproving eyes, telling Alfred to try and not get himself in trouble. But that was a time that was gone now. "Well, that has to do with how I know who you are already, Canada, or Matthew Williams." With the uttering of the human name as well as the nation name, Canada went pale before him.

"How…how do you know that?" Alfred hushed him with a finger to his own mouth, his lips twitching into a smile. "You can't ask questions about  _how_ I might know it, but you  _can_  ask me questions about  _what_  I know. You can think whatever you want of me, but you cannot  _say_  aloud who you think I really am."

His brother's purple eyes widened in understanding, his mouth going into a little 'oh', before he nodded, biting his lower lip as he stared at Alfred in awe. "Alright then. I won't say anything about…that." He confirmed tentatively.

Alfred grinned at this familiar look. "For ease, my name is, indeed, Alfred- and you can totally call me that, or Al or junk… and not Jones or any other BS. " But his heart ached as he remembered something.

" _Oh Al." Matthew had said, so glad to see him, alive and human. "God, I was scared when you and I got separated…thank God Francis saw where you guys were going- I wouldn't have managed to find you."_

Canada coughed before him, and Alfred was struck out of his reverie, looking sad. "Actually…. Just stick to Alfred."

The nation looked temporarily taken aback, but nodded mutely. "Well, you already know my human name." Canada nodded, licking his lips nervously. "Feel free to call me Matthew, if you'd like."

But the older man shook his head, laughing a bit. "Nah, I can't- that'd get way to confusing for me, considering that there is a monster that I regularly kill named Matthew Williams."

Canada's eyes bulged, looking like he was a hamster on a wheel that had just been caught in the momentum and was thrown for a loop in the most literal sense. "… What?"

"Again, you cannot ask  _how_  I know that, just know that I do." He cut him off, before starting again now that Canada was quiet. "A long time ago, before you were born, before this world was born, you  _could_  say I was a nation." He nodded. "Now, you cannot ask which one, since telling you I am- well,  _was_ a nation is probs already pushing the line a bit…. but yeah. Long and short of it is, one's allowed to say what my theoretical nation name could be, got it?"

"Why does it matter?" Canada asked him, looking puzzled. "You never answered me earlier when I asked if it was dangerous…"

Alfred laughed a bit. "It's important 'cause, before this world was born, I made a deal with a Goddess." He sipped his drink. "I wanted my world to be saved from what it had become- you've seen those monsters, right? The entire world, from humans to nations, had been transformed into those  _things_. I was one of the last sentient people on this earth who was able, and I…" He paused, unsure of how to phrase this, before settling on a half-truth. "I studied Arthur's books on calling up immortal beings other than ourselves, to save my world and my loved ones- entirely at my own expense… I simply don't exist, capiche?"

"You made a deal with a  _Goddess?_ " Canada was understandably baffled with the supernatural elements of the story, and Alfred hushed him again, irritated with the commentary on that.

"My deal was based off how I desired a new world, where none of it had happened." He sighed. "And in return for her granting my wish, she told me that I would have to…well, in the simplest terms, 'cease to be as I was', hence why you cannot say who I am, and two, fight off the quote on quote "Ghouls" from my world."

Canada looked confused. "But you wanted to save your friends, the other nations, right…? But you said that they're…."

"They are, in fact, the same monsters that I fight in order to protect this world." He agreed. "I was tasked with killing them in this new world, while y'all fuckers got off scotch free." Alfred sighed in irritation and upset, rubbing his temples and the familiar upset and distress with his failure to word his wish correctly. "I woke up in this world in the 1600's, and I've been fighting them ever since, with no end in sight- and the real kicker is…If I don't fight, if I give up and stop, I'll simply become a monster myself."

His brother now just looked horrified and upset. "That was a shit deal, Alfred." He commented flatly, and Alfred laughed in agreement.

"Fuck yes it was, but I didn't know she was double crossing my sorry ass." Alfred acknowledged, downing the rest of his drink in one go. "No, I was desperate, and Arthur had even told me to be careful with what I wish for, but I didn't pay attention enough to him before…" Alfred suddenly trailed off, the smile vanishing from his face.

The other blonde before him sat there in silence, unable to comprehend what Alfred was babbling on about. "I don't even know what to say to that. And you're the only one who can kill them, right?" Alfred nodded coolly. "So, you have to keep killing them, and if you give in, you become one yourself? But once you're a monster, there's no hope for this world because you're the only one who has the power to kill them?" He sat in silence again.

"Fucked up, right?" Alfred agreed grimly, looking into his empty cup, feeling hollow inside him."

Canada simply laughed a bit, still in shock. "So, that man was Prussia, but also…not?"

And Alfred laughed again, though it lacked its previous enthusiasm. "Yeah, it's totally fucked up, isn't it?"

"Ugh, Alfred… how'd you get into such a bad situation?"

" _I can't believe that the end of the world is upon us, Alfred." Matthew was bandaging up a cut he had gotten. "But I can believe that only_ _ **you**_ _would be so stupid as to attempt to kill Ivan."_

" _Heh, at least it wasn't Ludwig- right? Ivan's not a contagious monster." Alfred had said, almost rhetorically._

" _You two are imbeciles, you know that right?" Arthur growled, irritated with them both._

_Australia laughed at this, nodding emphatically as his brother, Thomas, smacked him upside the head for it. "He was coming this way! We had to do something, right, Al?"_

" _You betcha, Jett!" Alfred laughed good-naturedly, picking up Peter and settling the boy in his lap, the poor thing looking awfully worn out._

_Matthew only grinned at him weakly, since their little ragtag group of survivors trying to beat out the apocalypse had grown larger, when Peter and Oliva had found their friend, one of the Italian micro nations on the run from Ivan the Behemoth. Alfred and Jett had gone out to fight him with two pistols and a knife between them._

" _How on earth did you manage to get into that mess to begin with?" Matthew asked him with a small, affectionate grin on his face. "Lemme guess- you and Jett thought the best way to get Seborga out of that situation was to attack him from another angle, right?"_

_Alfred had laughed, and laughed and laughed on through his memory._

A small cough from Canada later, and Alfred's laughter stopped, and he turned nostalgic, face stuck in a bittersweet smile. "Yanno- Mattie used to ask me that all the time…"

XXXXX

The two had left the coffee shop to rejoin the meeting, Canada still deep in thought, but Alfred not particularly minding that. It was a crazy story to hear, but at least Canada seemed to believe him. It was nice, to have told someone, even if seeing him had caused his heart to squeeze in pain- he looked happy…

However, Alfred was drawn out of his thoughts when he realized that he had a very unfortunate new companion to his side, one that would be far harder to dissuade than his kinda, sorta brother.

It appeared that England was on his case, and he wasn't going to stop until he knew precisely how Alfred F. Jones ticked.

"Will you leave me alone?" Alfred asked, quietly sipping from his coffee as he stared at England with suspicious grey-blue eyes.

Familiar green eyes bored into his own, and yet they stared at him without a hint of recognition in their own- the feeling was disconcerting, and rather upsetting.

"No." England said, stubbornly. "You're hiding something, Jones."

Alfred grinned sardonically. "That's precisely why you  _should_  leave me alone, dontcha get that, England?" And his giant eyebrows furrowed in displeasure, and he sat down beside Alfred without being invited to do so, making Alfred's grin transform into a scowl. "You're really something, England." He muttered, crossing his arms and avoiding his accusatory gaze.

"I don't think we've ever formally been introduced- how would  _you_  know I'm  _England._ "

"The other one with the lil' hair squiggly thing. With the purple eyes." Alfred continued, before he snapped his fingers in fake recognition. "Canada- he told me. I was complaining about your uh…methods." He said, snorting. "But yeah, eyebrows, you're stubborn alright."

The official nation's face turned a hot shade of red. "That is not what I meant!" He shouted, before attempting to compose himself again. "What I  _meant_ , was that you- Alfred- are  _rather_  familiar with my name." He growled.

"Is that a problem?" He asked, blinking. "Look, I already said the reason you should leave me alone is because I am in fact, hiding really important things." Alfred's voice went softer. "Things that  _need_  to stay secret to protect y'all."

England went flush, licking his lips nervously at the sudden change of tone, from combative, to slightly comforting. "Well, I, it's still, nothing that a human should be concerning themselves with- unless, of course." He went thoughtful. "You  _aren't_  human, Alfred F. Jones?" He looked at him expectantly, pregnant with thought.

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Lay off, will you? I'm trying to protect you, Arthur-  _please_ , please let me?" His greyish blue eyes looked at England's, his exhaustion making him slip up and say the human name for the one he had once loved- and honestly, still did.

" _ **I can't lose you again, Arthur, I just can't. I love you too much to let you go."**_

"I…" England gulped, his green eyes widening as suddenly, Alfred was leaning forward, pulling Arthur into a kiss, his mind playing tricks on him. Maybe this was his Arthur- maybe Arthur had snapped out of his madness- like Emma did, and Gilbert did…

"Shh…don't say my name, Arthur…you should know the rules of this place... I did all of this for you, after all… and it is what you asked for me to do…" Alfred whispered, his breath hot against Arthur's skin, before their lips met and it felt  _right_ , like Alfred had been completed again, the hole in his heart aching to be filled with Arthur Kirkland in his life satisfied, nothing was wrong anymore- _It was like old times again._

_Before the end of the world, Arthur and Alfred had been dating. They had picked up that they were attracted to each other physically during World War II. From then on, they had plenty of sex. However, at some point…Alfred had confessed that his interest in Arthur was a little more…emotional, as well._

_Actually, it was more like in his delusional mind, during a bad spurt of the Cold War, ended up "claiming" Arthur as his._

_It wasn't a surprise to the rest of the world that they had fallen in love._

_They had been at a world conference, and Arthur had been cleaning up._

_Alfred had been laughing, and had come in to help him, since his sudden loud laughter had caused Arthur to drop his papers, the other nation smiling affectionately at him even though he tried to hide his irritation._

_But instead of reaching for the papers, he pulled something out and set it out on the table, much to Arthur's bafflement. He turned on his boom box, making Arthur snort in sudden affection- before he realized what the song was._

" _ **Wise men say only fools rush in**_ _…."_

" _Elvis, really, Alfred?" But there was undoubted affection in his faux irritation._

_Alfred had laughed, filled with exuberance. "I thought it made sense, you know."_

" _ **But I can't help falling in love with you**_ _…"_

 _Arthur snorted. "You_ _**would** _ _propose with a song, you cheesy idiot." But there was a soft smile on his face, and Alfred nodded, rubbing the nape of his neck._

" _You know me, Art. But. Uhm. Yeah…I…I am a cheesy idiot, but I wanna be your cheesy idiot, you know? When we started having sex in World War II, I know that neither of us really intended it to be long-term, but…"_

" _Of course you're my cheesy idiot." Arthur said immediately, chortling. "If any other nation did something like this, I'd clock them in the nose."_

" _Well I'm glad you didn't!" Alfred said, brightly. "But…but… well. I don't know what I'd do without you, sometimes, Arthur. I imagine having to let you go, and my whole chest hurts…I really am an idiot, you know? Nations shouldn't feel this way…"_

_There was a lull in the conversation, as Elvis continued to croon in the background._

" _ **Darling so it goes..."**_

_Alfred smiled at him again, and Arthur huffed before he spoke again. "But…you really are an idiot, you know? Nations shouldn't feel this way…but…we do… I…I didn't think we'd ever make it this long, to be honest…but…I'm glad that we have, you know?"_

" _ **Some things are meant to be**_ …"

_The American grinned. "Well, I am too. So…will you, uhm. See me, and uhm, me only? Make us an exclusive relationship."_

_"Darling, surely you knew that we both have been "exclusive" since the end of World War II, right?" Arthur said coyly, making Alfred laugh again, the two of each other staring like a couple of love-struck idiots, which was a rather apt description, he supposed._

_" **Take my hand** ," Alfred slowly picked up Arthur's hand, making the English nation blush, but Alfred only smiled with a certain confidence that made Arthur trust him, and lean into the hold. " **Take my whole life too** …" Alfred brought him into a slow dance, making Arthur blush and sputter, but when Arthur looked up into Alfred's gaze, green eyes widened, and he shook his head suddenly, as Alfred sung along with Elvis._

" _ **For I can't help falling in love with you**_ _…."_

_Arthur huffed, but it was impossible to hide that stupid grin that had formed on his face, and Alfred leaned into him, meeting Arthur's lips and kissing him passionately, lovingly._

" _ **For I can't help falling in love with you**_ _…."_

His hallucination was snapped suddenly when Arthur- no, England, this was  _England_ , not his Arthur, but England, the one who belonged in this new world- pushed him away suddenly, his face flushed with something other than bashfulness.

He was clearly aroused by Alfred, his bright green eyes  _like the forest he had called him_  shining with lust and desire and  _confusion_  as to why it had felt so right.

"Jones, how do you know that name?" He asked, blinking in confusion. "Why did you- why did you  _kiss_ me?" England looked to him, desperate for answers. "Alfred…"

The man stared at England, his greyed blue eyes closing in sorrow, in an apology for his lapse in judgment, for the resurgence of a  _memory_. "I-I…I'm sorry, I…I stepped outside of my boundaries." Alfred stepped away. "My bad, England…you remind me of someone…someone else. I didn't know that was your name too." He tried to explain, biting his lip in his anxiety. It sounded so much like bullshit, mostly because it  _was_  utter bullshit.

"Who were they?" Arthur asked, still breathless, looking to Alfred with wide eyes, touching his lips softly with slow moving fingers.

" _Alfred, you know… even though this whole experience has been awful…" Arthur's voice was filled with grief, and Alfred looked over to where his beloved was digging his second grave. "That I'm glad…that we are together. I'm glad that we…we settled our differences, and started to date before this had happened." He sighed, before looking to Alfred and smiling._

" _T-this is a little less hard, knowing that…that I…I still h-have you…" Arthur's voice, once filled with confidence, had fallen to a grief filled whisper, and he broke down._

_Alfred got up out of the grave he had finished digging, and went over to comfort Arthur._

" _I'm glad too." Alfred said, breathing in Arthur's familiar aroma, feeling the man's pounding heartbeat. "I love you, Arthur." He murmured, before kissing the elder man's forehead, making him cry harder._

" _I-I love…love you too, Alfred!" His voice was terribly muffled in Alfred's shirt, so the younger nation only sighed. "Matthew, see if you can get Thomas or Jett up… these graves aren't going to dig themselves, after all, and I think Arthur and I have done enough."_

" _Alright, Al. Don't be rude with them, though. They lost two siblings in the same day… and you want them to bury them…?" Matthew sighed, exasperated with his brother, who weakly grinned._

" _Of course! Since Arthur here lost someone who was essentially his son as well. Or, better yet, you and Victoria can get digging. Arthur here needs to recover as well."_

" _It's alright… Al." Arthur said, his eyes lighting up suddenly. "Oh my god. I just remembered- Christ, Alfred…we need to get back to my house!"_

" _Why?" Alfred asked, confused by the man- who had been sullen since Sealand, Wy, Hutt River, and Seborga had died in the night to illness- and his sudden enthusiasm._

" _Because, we can change this." Arthur said, furiously. "We can go back, and stop this from happening- Alfred! We can stop this!" His eyes were bright, and a slow smile was building on his face._

_The two embraced tightly, and Alfred pulled away, grinning brightly. "There's my babe! I knew you'd find a solution somehow." He drew him into a kiss, and they stayed like that until Jett sourly threw a roll of bandages at them, telling them bitterly to respect the dead._

"That doesn't matter." Alfred looked away, closing his eyes as he held onto the image of Arthur smiling at him again as he realized that they could find a way to change the fate of their world, the feeling of the kiss dazing him, blending reality with the past in a way that was so, so disconcerting, his heart aching in his chest for  _Arthur, Arthur_. "They're gone now… I…I should go."

England gripped his hand suddenly. "Alfred!" He said, baffled by the hot-and-cold behavior. "Please, make me understand!" He took a step towards Alfred, and Alfred suddenly jumped away from him, crossing his arms defensively as he stumbled backwards, before he looked around, desperate for an exit, and bolted to the left in his sudden terror.

Leaving England at an utter loss for words.

XXXXX

"I don't get it!" England shouted to no one in particular, tipsy and showing it boldly at the bar, drinking with France. "Why in the bloody hell would he kiss me and then run!"

"Perhaps our mysterious hunter has a few skeletons in the closet, mon ami." France comforted him quietly, patting his back reassuringly. "We already knew that, though!" He laughed. "Hunting monsters he has admitted are  _humans_ , and being the only one with the power to kill them…that would make anyone slightly mad."

England pouted. "He's a good kisser…he knew my name, and he knew exactly how I enjoyed being kissed…it's like he  _knew_  me…France…he knew my  _name_ , as in, my  _human_  name…" He sighed melodramatically, shaking his head.

"I can't even deny it. Alfred F. Jones is the man of my dreams."

France snorted on his drink, making a smug grin at the other nation. "Obviously- have you seen the man? His appearance is essentially a modern day Adonis, a strong jaw and striking eyes, a beautiful frame and wonderful muscles. It is quite a pity that he is so intent on acting so  _depressed_  all the time."

Arthur smacked him upside the head, and shook his head. "No, you dolt! I meant, I see him in my dreams! N-not that he isn't attractive, but! I meant that…I always have this strange feeling that he…that  _we_ already know each other…"

France looked at him quietly, interested. "And…he called you by that silly name you picked out for yourself when we were kids?" His fellow nation teased him, but Arthur knew well enough it was a veil for curiosity. "You know- Matthew was  _convinced_  that he saw Prussia with him, and…there have been reports of more human looking monsters. Like the one native to your land."

England scowled. "The one with a penchant for trying to kill me?" He asked, still nursing some scotch.

"Yes- I always thought it looked  _suspiciously_  like yourself- it even had literal blades to match your silver tongue!" He smirked a bit, before becoming serious. "Matthew had a talk with him- I say we grill Mr. Jones tomorrow for information." The Frenchmen smiled. "And perhaps we will get our answers…I think that perhaps, Alfred has more to him than even preliminary guesses can suppose."

England rather liked the sound of that, even as he wistfully thought back to his dream the past night.

" _ **Take my hand**_ _," Across from him was the mysterious hunter, except with a gentle, happy smile and bright, loving blue eyes, and the man slowly picked up Arthur's hand, making the English nation blush, but Alfred only smiled with a certain confidence that made Arthur trust him, and lean into the hold- something that was so loving and kind and familiar, and it made Arthur's heart squeeze in pain- he never wanted to let him go. "_ _ **Take my whole life too**_ _…" Alfred brought him into a slow dance, making Arthur blush and sputter, but when Arthur looked up into Alfred's gaze, green eyes widened, and he shook his head suddenly, as Alfred sung along with Elvis._

" _ **For I can't help falling in love with you**_ _…."_

_Arthur huffed, but it was impossible to hide the stupid grin that had formed on his face, and Alfred leaned over him, meeting Arthur's lips and kissing him passionately, lovingly._

" _ **For I can't help falling in love with you**_ _…."_

England gently felt his lips again, the feeling almost identical to how it had been in the dream, even though by all rights, it should have been impossible.

" _Shh…don't say my name, Arthur…you should know the rules of this place... I did all of this for you, after all… and it is what you asked for me to do…" The hunter was obviously not himself- he was acting almost nothing like himself, but far more like the man_ _ **Alfred**_ _in his dreams, that he saw so frequently, but had never understood why._

 _Then lips had met his own, and England had been so utterly fulfilled in that moment, and he had no ungodly idea why it felt so…_ _**right** _ **.**

Well, as it happened, England was utterly determined to find out  _why_ it felt so right to be with Alfred- no matter what, he would get to the bottom of this.

XXXXX

However, it wasn't that easy though. Alfred avoided him like the bloody fucking bubonic plague, damn him! He needed answers to this crises, needed to know why his heart ached for Alfred so, despite how they didn't know each other, needed to know why Alfred was so familiar with him!

He could barely get the man alone, and occasionally he would simply be gone from the country, showing up in videos from  _China_ or some other place halfway around the world.

But then he was back, and humans barraged the man, who only seemed more tired every time that he returned. It was like he was fixated on England just as much as England was fixed on the hunter, since England often caught the man's dark blue eyes staring straight at him, something not unlike longing in them.

If he desired England, why didn't he come forward? Why didn't he make England understand?

And so, there was no meeting, no connection between the two of them more than those fleeting glances and it all left England wondering what, precisely, he meant to Alfred F. Jones, be it in this life or in another.

The dreams had been coming more frequently, and Alfred's face in them was so much happier, and he always looked at England with such love in them, that it left him yearning for the feeling all the time.

He simply had to know what was making him feel this way- Canada's warning to step off him, he was stressed be damned.

He had to know why Alfred wasn't happy any longer.

XXXXX

_Jett and Thomas had died in the night. It looked like Jett had been transforming into something, and had choked on his own vomit. They had woken to the sound of Thomas shooting himself and collapsing, dead by his own hand._

_Arthur was beside himself, and Mattie, Victoria, and Francis were as well._

_But, Alfred, Matthew, and Francis all knew that despite the loss, it was in very morbid sense better for the rest of them._

" _More food to go around." Alfred sighed, rubbing his temples. "Don't tell Arthur we're even saying this, got it you two." He said, glaring at Francis and Matthew. "He'll be so pissed we're even seeing this as a good thing."_

" _Well, Alfred." Francis said, frazzled. "It is unfortunate, but it means our food will last us longer. Even you understand that, why can't Arthur do the same?"_

" _He blames himself." Alfred said, fervent. "They were his colonies as well- if it was Matthew and me who had died last night, would you be happy the rest of you got more to eat?"_

_Francis glared, but the fact remained that he had become colder, and this showed it. He hadn't known Thomas or Jett all that well, and hadn't been as upset when the micronations had died either. He had become cruel in that sense- more inclined to help only those he cared about._

" _That's right." Alfred growled. "So, don't mention it to him. We need to move, unfortunately, since Thomas used his gun and last bullet." He sighed, shaking his head. "For one, that means we're down a weapon and two fighters, and so we'll be weaker if we are attacked, and two, it means that the zombies are coming for our asses- so lets fuckin' move."_

_Francis sighed, seeming put off by Alfred's speech. "If we are truly going to attempt to boat to the UK, it makes sense that we should be glad to preserve as much food as we can."_

_After the meeting had ended, they went to their tasks. Victoria was strangely quiet, withdrawn, and Matthew helped Alfred gather up their things, Francis helping them by burning the bodies. Arthur was quiet as well, upset and tired, and Alfred eventually offered to carry him, the Brit becoming irritated and suddenly standing taller and refusing stoutly- stubborn as ever. It made Alfred smile to see this familiar streak still in Arthur's being._

_The 5 of them kept moving, leaving behind yet another two dead bodies of their friends and family._

XXXXX

Times had changed. When Alfred came back from his annual trip to kill off returning monsters, he had been accosted by none other than England- demanding "answers" from Alfred. He didn't know what he was asking for.

Where England's stubbornness had once been a trait Alfred had adored, this modern England was more than stubborn- he was downright  _insufferable_.

"Ugh, why aren't you telling me anything! Are you trying to be an ass?" England asked, shouting in his own defense, England looked positively enraged as Alfred tried to escape from this unnecessary trial on Alfred's honesty.

Alfred was prepared to leave him at this point, frustrated to all hell with this nosy, unbearable version of the man he loved. He fisted his hands. "I'm fine! I'm fine if you think I'm an asshole- if you  _hate_  me! I didn't do this so that you'd like me, hell, I said I didn't care if you liked me at all!" He shouted, bursting, before seeming to realize he had given away too much, and he tried to leave again, only to be blocked by England once more. "Just…Just leave me alone, Kirkland!" He shouted, defensive.

"I have no intentions of that." He muttered, watching Alfred carefully. "I have my suspicions about who you are, and you are going to  _confirm_  them, whether it be now or later." He growled, getting closer to Alfred. "But first…how do you know so much about the nations?" He put his hands on his shoulders, holding him in place. " _Why did you call my by my human name and kiss me, you liar?"_  He asked Alfred in the nation's language, which Alfred still unfortunately understand, and Alfred growled, eyes widening as he shook his head as he rose to the accusation in anger.

"I told you, you reminded me of someone long gone!" Alfred shouted back. "It doesn't matter why I did it to you- they're  _dead_ , they died a long time ago!"

That was when the ringing started.

"Shit…" Alfred muttered, recognizing the noise and who was causing it all too well, and England sneered.

"What is it,  _boy?_ " He muttered, before he heard it too. "So, you  _can_  hear them…?" England asked, satiated by the new, undoubtedly condemning information about Alfred. "After all… _only_  nations…"

Alfred shoved him off of himself, trying to get England, the real one, out of here. He knew  _very_ well which one this ringing belonged to, and the shouts of how they had died were not going to help them now. "Run! Run if you know what's good for you!" He said, taking out his gun, prepared to protect the nation who he had sacrificed everything for, even if he actually wasn't that person.

"What are you even talking about? I'm not going anywhere!" England shouted at him, angry from the lack of information, frustrated by the fact Alfred wasn't willing to share it, and annoyed that he hadn't gotten any sort of physical reciprocation from him, and that's when they were interrupted.

"My, my…. you've been getting into a lot of trouble recently, have you not?" A very, unfortunately, familiar voice was heard by both of them, and Alfred felt his stomach drop.

Of fucking  _course_  he'd come here, Alfred thought, looking down to avoid seeing his face. He had become good at taunting Alfred with what he couldn't have.

"What the fuck?" England shouted, "Who's there?" He looked around wildly, before Alfred told him to shut up.

"England, I swear, you need to  _run._ " He hissed. "This one doesn't play nicely with others." The thought of, ' _particularly the ones who like to try and get me to fuck them_ ' remained unsaid, but Alfred thought of it, knowing how…. possessive this one still was, even though it had been 400 years since they had come here.

A haughty laugh came through the night, and Alfred peered through the darkness, before he grabbed England, throwing them to the side as a giant blade went right for where the British Nation's head had been just moments before, meanwhile, his ex-love came out of the darkness, the blade sinking back into his hand, melding perfectly back into his skin, and he smiled madly.

"Oh, my dear boy, why would I ever need to run?" Arthur Kirkland smiled, his expression and demeanor oily, before reaching out his hand, which transformed into a metal blade, and then into multiple blades. "Unless, of course, you truly think I died a long time ago… and accepted this…doppelganger…. as myself."

England's mouth dropped open as he stared his mad, former self down, before turning to Alfred with confusion, and disbelief, unable to even form words (though he clearly tried.)

Alfred took out his guns, not waiting for Arthur to charge, or for England to speak. He ran forward to meet Arthur, growling in frustration. "Run!" He shouted back to England, but he was beat to it when he saw Emma come seemingly out of nowhere, the ghostly witch of a woman grabbing England- who began wildly struggling with her- and forcing him away from this battle against Arthur Kirkland, the monster whose form allowed him to make any part of his skin into a deadly blade which was sharper than most kitchen knives.

"Arthur! Stop, will you!" He shouted. "I didn't even  _sleep_  with him!" Alfred was pacing around him, keeping on the move so that Arthur's eyes would stay on him and not stray to where Emma was taking England.

"Not good enough love." Arthur said, unhinged as he smiled, one of his bladed fingers tracing his chin, making the monster bleed black. "You know I despise it when people lay their dirty hands on you…the fact it was my…  _imposter_  makes very little of a difference. Perhaps I can forgive you,  _darling_." His familiar pet name dripped with a sickly sweetness, and left a bad taste in Alfred's mouth. "But he must  _go_. I did die, but you know that I have returned- for  _you,_ Alfred, my beloved."

Alfred sighed, guilt and sorrow building in him. "Arthur, you know it's not him that's the imposter, right?" He murmured, the anger and fervor draining from him- he was  _tired_  of arguing with this one monster that Alfred could never kill, despite its numerous sins. Not once in his 400 years of hunting them had he ever been able to destroy Arthur.

He couldn't do it again, not after having killing him once.

" _Alfred…Alfred stop." Arthur said, his voice barely a whisper- Alfred had been running for hours, and he had reached the end of his stamina, but he was determined to go on._

" _I…I have to…. I have to…" Alfred said, panting but wide-eyed with desperation- his body threatening to give out if he continued but his heart threatening to rebel if he didn't. "I can't lose you, Arthur. I can't. We have to get to your house. Y-You can reverse the process if-!"_

" _Alfred." Arthur's voice rang out in the silence, quieting Alfred altogether, his breath stuck in his chest, too heavy all of a sudden. "It's alright. It's too late for me…" Arthur coughed, his skin morphing. "It's…it's too late."_

" _NO!" Alfred had screamed, gripping Arthur tight. "No! It's not too late- I, Arthur, I love you,_ _ **I can't lose you**_ _!"_

_Arthur smiled, gentle and kind, patting Alfred's shoulder. "Please…set me down, Alfred. It's alright, my love..."_

" _It's not alright- Arthur, you're_ _ **dying**_ _-…"_

" _I know." The simple response resounded in the air around them, and Alfred's breath hitched again. "I can't make it to my home. But you can." Arthur squeezed his hand. "Remember- the Goddess can change fate..." Arthur's face winced. "Be careful with what you ask for…please, Alfred…you have to go on without me now…"_

_Alfred was crying- he wasn't sure when he had started but he knew now that he couldn't stop now._

" _Arthur…" His voice had gone hoarse, staring dumbly at the love of his life._

" _And…one more thing." Arthur breathed, his voice weak. "You…please…I don't want to be a monster, Alfred…" He murmured, closing his eyes. "Please…kill me."_

_He swallowed his tears, and held up his gun, putting it straight against Arthur's skin, cradling his body close._

_And the gunshot filled the air, and his ears, and Alfred had been left with nothing._

He couldn't kill him again. It had been so painful just that one time. He couldn't imagine doing it again. Not him- not  _Arthur_.

"Alfred! I demand an explanation!" England shouted at him from where Emma was holding him down, bringing Alfred rather forcibly out of his reverie of events that had already taken place, and were never to happen again.

His attention snapped back to the situation at had.

"Emma! Get him  _out of here!_ " Alfred screamed at her, sparking the ghostly woman into action, disappearing with England in her icy grip.

The creature Arthur had become tsked at him, clearly disappointed at the loss of the man he had been  _so_ looking forward to killing. "Now, really love, why'd you have to go and do  _that_?"

The only remaining nation from their timeline glared at Arthur. "You know why, Arthur." He hissed. "They're not the ones I wanted to save, you know that, but they're here, and now they're my responsibility. I reckon you know how this ends for the two of us if you stay here."

"I shan't, don't worry yourself about that." Arthur said, his smile practically oozing off oily charm and false happiness. "I'll be off, hunting where that damned woman has taken my imposter. Surely, she knows that we must kill them in order for us to rule this earth again?"

Alfred rubbed his temples, not desiring to fight his crazed lover. "Get lost, Arthur." He said, tired. "Please, I don't wanna hear you right now… _please, Art_."

Arthur smiled at him darkly, his poisonous green eyes showing clearly the passionate desire and lust- for  _Alfred_ \- within him still, feelings that had multiplied after his death in the other timeline. And before Alfred could so much as  _blink-_  the monster had vanished into the shadows, and left Alfred feeling hollow, like he had failed him all over again.

Arthur's voice from the other world filled him with a familiar grief, it settled over him, digging deeper into his remaining resolve and carving out a larger hole in the place where Arthur had once been in his heart.

" _I don't want to be a monster, Alfred…Please…_ _ **kill me**_ _."_

"You let him go-  _alive_?" France's familiar voice came from behind him, filled with an irritation that was just as familiar to him, and Alfred groaned as he was brought out of the moments getaway from this world and all its cruelty.

Despite it all, Arthur had still become that monster in the end.

"Really, I don't get any breaks, do I?" Alfred asked the uncaring goddess- who was surely laughing at his misfortune- before he turned to face the other nations- Russia, China, and France were all there, frowning intensely at his choice.

"I did." He stared them down, his voice firm. "England's safe, jus' so you guys know. Emma wouldn't lay a finger on him as long as he did the same for her."

"Unhand me! Woman!" England's voice was coming out from a hallway, and Alfred snickered.

"Not that he could if he wanted to- Emma, it's fine, let him go now, will you? Artie's gone, probably." Alfred shrugged. "Thanks for helping me, by the way, Emma…"

The woman floated out of her hiding place, and released England, who shivered at the feeling of cold fingers passing through his skin.

"Alfred, it was no trouble for you…but…. please… _end_  me, will you?" The quasi-ghost who was once Belgium asked, her soft green eyes staring into his dark blue turned grey ones in need. "It hurts…to be so close…" She gestured to the building covertly, and her eyes suddenly focused on the Dutch, Belgian, and Luxembourgian flags- and the modern nations stared at the transient figure in confusion, even as she smiled in pain, having to look away and close her eyes.

Alfred nodded, only taking a moment to put his knife through her form, and disperse her into the air once more- but only after they had seen the blonde woman she had once been, smiling at Alfred, and mouthing the words, " _Thank you."_

England, France, Russia and China were all staring at the space where she had been, and Alfred sighed, noticing how France had paled considerably, murmuring his pet name for Belgium very quietly- too quietly for Russia, China, or England to hear. "Welp. I'm going to my room- and I'm drinking. A lot. Stay away from me- okay?" He gritted out, and started to walk away, and he could feel England's intense, determined gaze on him, more so than the others.

He had to ignore it. That was what he needed to do. He had to let him go- right? Perhaps then Arthur would leave England alone; perhaps then it would be easier to go on, to continue this veritable suicide mission.

However, Alfred wasn't bothered by the nations after that, and instead he was allowed to go back to his hotel room, and guzzle down all kinds of alcohol he had available to him, and blacked out.


	4. Act III

_The end of the world had not come with a bang. It came slowly, creeping with an illness unlike anything else._

_Nations fell, and the lucky ones disappeared._

_The not so lucky ones…. well…_

_They knew what happened to the truly unlucky ones at this point, having spent months and months running from them._

" _What the fuck!" Alfred was screaming as suddenly a monster was before him. It was him, and Arthur and Francis, and there was this big beast, with a massive set of antlers, and huge fangs that dripped blood and bits of flesh._

" _My god…" Arthur gasped, staring wide-eyed at the beast before him, his ankle sprained, and unable to run away from it. "It's Matthew." Arthur's voice sounded broken, like he had accepted the worst, and Alfred stood protectively in front of him, since Francis was still able to walk just fine. He wouldn't let him attack anyone else here._

" _That is_ _ **not**_ _Matthew!" Francis argued hotly, before looking back up at the beast that had devoured Seychelles and now was turning towards them. "Matthew would never do this! Matthew was just_ _ **sick**_ _! He had just gone out for a walk! He's not that thing, he_ _ **can't**_ _be that thing! He's coming back!" Francis' desperation was practically palpable, tangible around them. He loved Matthew too much. He wouldn't kill him, and Arthur was injured- he couldn't fight off this monster._

_And as it fully turned its attention from the corpse of Seychelles, and looked towards them, Alfred knew what he had to do to save the remaining three of them- since Matthew was already gone._

_Francis loved Matthew so much that he couldn't kill him._

_The monster galloped toward them on inhumanly long legs, blood and flesh from Victoria dripping from its mouth, and Alfred took out his gun, and pointed it straight at the monster's chest, his eyes staring into the monsters- to see purple tinged with red, all humanity lost._

_Alfred loved Matthew so much that he would kill him- for Matthew's sake._

" _I'm sorry, Mattie." Alfred murmured, his voice soft and filled with despair, and he had to close his eyes and ignore the growing burn as he ached to cry because the creature launched itself at him and it was suddenly_ _ **now or never**_ _\- before it died at Alfred's bullet leaving his gun and going straight through its heart, the light leaving his eyes as his launch carried him and knocked Alfred over with the force of the dead weight._

_The air had left Alfred's lungs when he had been toppled to the ground and been partially crushed, but it was good that it had taken his breath away, since Alfred didn't know if he was strong enough not to cry as he pulled himself out from beneath Matthew's corpse, seeing familiar blonde hair now bloodied and matted, his face crumpled and empty in death- and to pull the broken glasses off of Matthew's face, trying his best to ignore the hot tears on the verge of dropping and making him collapse, in order to stuff them into his pocket- a token of his brother that Alfred would always hang onto. "I'm so sorry." His voice was thick, and it was hard to breath. He told himself it was because the air had been knocked out of him, but he knew that wasn't the only reason._

" _No!" Francis shrieked as the dust of the fight settled, the older man distraught, Arthur barely holding him back as Alfred set the two corpses on fire with the vodka they had taken from Russia's empty house, and a match._

" _I'm sorry. We can't risk Victoria coming back as one of them." Alfred murmured, anguish causing his face to crumple. "And the same is true for Matthew…so…we burn them here. Goodbye, Matthew, and Victoria… we will miss you dearly."_

_The words felt almost hollow even as he spoke them._

_Alfred wrapped his arm around Arthur's shoulder; Francis' sobs filling the air, before Arthur insisted that they get moving- the gunshot would have alerted other beasts in the area to their location, and since they had dwindled to 3 now…well._

_There was no time in this world for such minor things as grief any longer._

XXXXX

"Rise and shine, asshole." A familiar, comfortingly brash voice woke him up the next morning, even though it gave him a horrible headache and awoke his nausea in a horrific lurch of his stomach.

"Gil…" Alfred groaned, extremely hung-over, but he opened his eyes to see grinning red ones, the zombie looking extremely smug in something Alfred couldn't yet determine.

"Nice to see you too!" Gilbert laughed. "You certainly drank yourself into a coma, but then again, I don't think you can die as easily as I could!" He laughed, drinking a good swig of Alfred's opened beer and making Alfred frown heavily at him- at least until his hand fell off, which made Gilbert glare at the limb in irritation. "Ugh." He complained, taking out his thread and stitching up his skin. "I cannot fucking believe that I keep falling apart."

He snorted, ever so slightly amused by Gilbert's show for him, now that he realized its purpose was to try and brighten his mood. "I know you can't get drunk anymore, Gil." Alfred reminded, sitting up quietly, rubbing his temples.

"I know that." The albino zombie snapped, before softening. "I heard you killed Kiku from Emma, and then I saw you killed Emma yesterday- why?" He asked, blinking quietly. "You've never agreed to do it before- 'cause, you know once the sentient ones die, they don't come back sentient anymore." Gilbert's red eyes stared into his dark grey-blue ones expectantly. "So, why did you do it now?"

Alfred sighed. "I dunno…I just… It felt like it was time. They've been coming faster recently…but now they've just…stopped. I dunno if they're all dead, except for you and Arthur…but…" He bit his lip. "It just felt like it was the right time, and she was looking at the UN building, and I knew in my deepest being, that it was okay to kill her, and let her rest."

"It felt right... huh?" He asked, thoughtful, and looked to Alfred for further explanation, but didn't get any.

The silence grew between them, and Alfred belatedly realized Gilbert had been waiting for a response. "Yeah." The hunter from their shared world sighed. "Yeah, it did…"

He couldn't help feeling his loved ones had deserved better, and Gilbert simply moved over in order to wrap his arms around Alfred, and hug the man.

He tried his best to stop the tears that came. They only made his hangover worse, Goddamnit…

XXXXX

_Francis had died not long after that. One morning he had been sleeping longer than usual, but at some point between them waking up and Arthur and Alfred coming back from gathering firewood, his body had vanished from this world, leaving only a rose in its place._

" _Lucky French bastard." Arthur muttered angrily. "Of_ _ **course**_ _he gets to disappear. Naturally, he gets the gentle death, rather than what everyone else has faced. Fucking frog. To weak in the end to even get a proper death. Come back, I'll end you myself!"_

_Alfred had to hold Arthur tight, to stop him from spitting on the rose, and then later, to stop him from crying that it wasn't fair that Francis had died. For as much as the two had despised each other at points- they had a strange love for the other- not a romantic love, but something along the lines of familial ties, and camaraderie. They had cared for each other dearly, and it showed in Arthur's tired, dramatic sobs into the cold, uncaring night as Alfred held him close._

" _Arthur, we still have each other. Come on, we can still fix this, I know we can…" He had murmured, trying to reassure him that night, underneath skies without any stars._

_They had crossed the Atlantic after that, Alfred and Arthur on a boat, alone in the dark high seas, but Arthur couldn't bring himself to enjoy the familiarity of sailing in the open ocean. Being on the ship they had taken from the marina in the coast of what had used to be Maine had somehow worn into just another unfair reminder of the way things had once been, and Alfred hoped to God that he wasn't losing Arthur to the illness as well._

_One such illness that made humans and nations crave human flesh, but there were others as well._

_When this had all started, Gilbert had fallen to that particular strain, Alfred remembered- he had been what they now referred to as a "Zombie" at the last world conference in Washington DC. Before Alfred's troop had all headed towards Alfred's bunkers in the Colorado range of the Rocky Mountains. He had brought it to them, and because he was an ex-nation, that was how he had been infected, but was also able to infect other nations. He had bitten Greece, making Japan shout in blank faced horror, before Ludwig had pushed them both to the side, taking the gun out and staring Gilbert down._

_Alfred didn't think he would do it, but he simply had murmured a quiet German whisper of brotherly love, and asked for forgiveness as he shot him between the eyes, killing Gilbert instantly as Hungary and Austria screamed at him- the two barely held back by Liechtenstein as Switzerland stared at the scene in horror, unknowing of how to react- his neutrality finally failing him as the world was coming to an end._

_It was too late, though. Heracles was groaning, and Japan gripped him in sorrow, telling everyone to run, he'd kill anyone who came for him._

_They had scattered as Japan burst into flames, becoming what appeared to be a demon- who killed many as they came forward to help, be with their families- and then Taiwan, Hong Kong, Turkey, Egypt and Cyprus were killed instantly._

_Alfred had shouted for everyone to run, gripping Arthurs hand and trying desperately not to let go as hundreds of feet fled in desperation._

_Francis had Matthew, Victoria, trailing with him, and Australia brought his family with him- New Zealand, Wy, Hutt River, and even Sealand had come with him, though the once overly confident micronation had become withdrawn, and when Arthur had asked, Peter merely whispered that Finland and Sweden were dead._

_However, much like Matthew, over time, they lost them. The illness, whatever was causing the spontaneous changes in them- it was_ _**spreading-** _ _and it took them down one by one._

_Francis was just the latest body that they had buried._

_But now, they had made it back to England- Arthur's home. Arthur was talking furiously with Alfred. He had a spell book, one that could be used to change fate- change anything in this world._

_It required contacting a Goddess that his mother had known._

" _There's a reason my mum died when she did." England huffed, tiredly helping Alfred up over a broken wall, so that they could get moving before night fell. "It was because she made a deal with the Goddess." And that was precisely when Alfred stopped listening. After a while, Arthur scowled at him- since he had finally figured out that Alfred wasn't even paying attention to his story._

_And the truth was, he wasn't._

" _I don't get this magic-y mumbo jumbo, Arthur. I just want this to be fixed." Alfred complained, yawning. "Man, we need to get a move on. Its getting really dark out- isn't it?"_

" _It is." Arthur agreed, sounding disconcerted by something, but he didn't say anything just yet, the two of them on a mission to make it back to Arthur's home in one piece._

_Of course, they would not even be that lucky._

_In an unfortunate turn of circumstances, Alfred himself had been targeted for something. Something malicious, that had desired his bodies notorious strength. Arthur had sensed it, but hadn't said anything- if they made it back to his home, Alfred and him would be safe. They just…they just had to…_

_As night fell, and the two remained miles from Arthur's estate, Alfred had begun to change._

_It was a parasite, Arthur had informed him through Alfred's fog._

_Alfred suddenly saw Arthur's face in front of him, his voice barely audible and his eyes closed, and then their lips met, Arthur seeming to…_ _**suck** _ _something out of him._

_And then the world had become clear once more for Alfred, the younger blinking at first in shock, but after he looked to where Arthur had sat on the ground, in utter horror._

" _There." Arthur murmured, closing his eyes. "I won't let you be corrupted, Alfred. I won't lose you to this mess as well."_

_Alfred stared as Arthur twitched and groaned._

" _We-we have to get to my house." Arthur said, his voice weak. "If we do, I can…I can reverse this process. We have to hurry. Now."_

_Alfred had nodded, going numb as he scooped Arthur's frail body- when had he become so skinny…? - Into his arms, and launching into a full run, desperate to save him._

_Hours passed, and the darkness consumed them._

" _Alfred…Alfred stop." Arthur said, his voice barely a whisper- Alfred had been running for hours, and he had reached the end of his stamina, but he was determined to go on._

" _I…I have to…. I have to…" Alfred said, panting but wide-eyed with desperation- his body threatening to give out if he continued but his heart threatening to rebel if he didn't. "I can't lose you, Arthur. I can't. We have to get to your house. Y-You can reverse the process if-!"_

" _Alfred." Arthur's voice rang out in the silence, quieting Alfred altogether, his breath stuck in his chest, too heavy all of a sudden. "It's alright. It's too late for me…" Arthur coughed, his skin morphing. "It's…it's too late."_

" _NO!" Alfred had screamed, gripping Arthur tight. "No! It's not too late- I, Arthur, I love you, I can't lose you!"_

_Arthur smiled, gentle and kind, patting Alfred's shoulder. "Please…set me down, Alfred. It's alright, my love..."_

" _It's not alright- Arthur, you're_ _ **dying**_ _-…"_

" _I know." The simple response resounded in the air around them, and Alfred's breath hitched again. "I can't make it to my home. But you can." Arthur squeezed his hand. "Remember- the Goddess can change fate..." Arthur's face winced. "Be careful with what you ask for…please, Alfred…you have to go on without me now…"_

_Alfred was crying- he wasn't sure when he had started but he knew now that he couldn't stop now._

" _Arthur…" His voice had gone hoarse, staring dumbly at the love of his life._

" _And…one more thing." Arthur breathed, his voice weak. "You…please…I don't want to be a monster, Alfred…" He murmured, closing his eyes. "Please…kill me."_

_He swallowed his tears, and held up his gun, putting it straight against Arthur's skin, cradling his body close._

_And the gunshot filled the air, and his ears, and Alfred had been left with nothing._

_They had come so far. At the start of the year, they had first had reports of monsters, but there was no issue for a good month, until the World Meeting in early February. From there, Alfred had driven them out to Colorado Springs, where they had hidden in a military base for a good long while…until of course, the infected got in, and spread disease and monsters formed. They had lost their car, and so wandered in the Colorado Mountains for a good long while, eventually wandering into Seborga, who happened to be infected._

_He had managed to kill the other micronations, before Jett had killed him in revenge for taking his family._

_It was then that Arthur had the idea to go back in time, and stop this from happening. But it would be an 80-day walk to Portland, Maine, where they would take the best route to England._

_On the way, first Jett and Thomas had died. Jett had been suffocated in his own vomit from spontaneous illness, and Thomas had shot himself, unwilling to cope. Then, Victoria and Matthew had died, with Matthew transforming into some sort of cannibalistic monster and killing Victoria by devouring her, before Alfred had shot him. And then of course, Francis had perished in the night, a gentle, quiet death unbefitting for a man that had been so enthusiastic in loving life._

_Now it had been Arthur's turn to die, and somehow, that had been the end of it for Alfred._

_The ex-nation stood, and vowed to do whatever it took to fix this. Arthur had been the only reason he had lived this long. Now that his dying wish had been to save the world…well. Alfred had always wanted to be a hero, after all…_

_It was time to make that dream a reality, he supposed._

_For Arthur, he would do anything._

XXXXX

Once Alfred had gotten his headache and nausea under control and into a zone of relative comfort, he got up and got dressed, heading out into the streets, walking with Gilbert, who was tied with a new type of threat that Gilbert hoped would hold him together than all the other kinds that they had tried over the years.

They were talking quietly, and enjoying each other's company. "So, it's really just me and ol' Artie now, right?" He asked, sighing. "Damn. It's a good thing- he can really only do so much damage by himself after all, but it's still…pretty lonely, yanno? Even Emma's gone, and I didn't find her a good gal to hang around after all that's happened with us and the new world."

Alfred gave a guffaw. "That's hardly saying anything, Gilbert. You're a fucking  _zombie_ , it's no wonder you have trouble making new friends."

"To be honest?" Gilbert looked at him, quiet, seeming vaguely off. "I wish I wasn't sentient too, Alfred." He revealed. "But if I wasn't- where'd that leave you? You're already alone…I can't imagine what that'd be like, without another ear to yak on about what's gone wrong with your desire to change fate."

And that hurt Alfred, more than any punch or physical wound could hurt him now. It hurt because Gilbert was right- if Gilbert wasn't still here, he'd have given into the Goddess' cruel fate for him years ago.

"Gilbert!" He heard an unfortunately familiar voice from behind them, and Gilbert tensed beside him. "There you are! The meetings going to start soon, and Prussia needs to be represented all the same."

Alfred and Gilbert turned around to face Germany- the new Ludwig.

"Ah…Germany." Alfred said, sheepish.

Gilbert was smiling though, and he waved. "Yo, Lutz!" He said, pleasant, making Alfred gape at him, not quite understanding what was even going on.

"Ah…" Germany blinked suddenly. "You're Alfred, right? The American monster hunter that has been causing such a stir?" He said, focused on him, before he turned to Gilbert, and stared, before his face went cold. "…You're not my brother, are you?" He stated more than asked, his voice sharp, but his blue eyes widening as Gilbert smiled sadly.

"Yeah, I know." He said, gentle. "It's 'kay though…it's been so long since I've seen mine not wanting to kill me!" He joked, and Alfred stared at him, unable to comprehend what Gilbert was giving away. "Heh, the biggest irony is that somehow, I remain a nation in this timeline…man, that's great."

"Prussia-  _Gilbert_!" He spluttered, so surprised with his statement that he used Gilbert's old name before he corrected himself out of habit. "This Germany- he can't know about-!"

"Alfred, it's like you said…it feels like it's the right time..." Gilbert murmured in resignation, closing his eyes. "I'm just glad I finally meet you, Germany. In this world- and with you not trying to kill us… You're not my brother, but you're so much like him, and I miss him… so much."

"Gilbert!" He snapped. "Stop! Please!" Alfred was begging him.

"Why?" Gilbert asked, voice soft,  _pushing him, pushing Alfred too far-_  Germany staring at the evidence in front of him, and despite how Gilbert walked over to him to hug him, Germany simply pushed him out of the way, looking at Alfred with calculating eyes. Ignoring how Gilbert looked so heartbroken by the motion. Didn't he realize that Gilbert loved him like he had loved his own brother?

"You look like Canada, you speak English, and according to England– you understand the common tongue of nations." He recited the facts he knew about Alfred. "And I figure if you understand it, than you can speak it as well, meaning you must be a nation. This man, who looks like my brother, that you have called Prussia, and yet you call me  _this_ Germany, meaning there is another Germany, likely one to match this Prussia. This means that you, him, and all of the monsters are from an alternate world."

Alfred stared at him, helpless, his mouth dropping open, his lips moving slowly, trying to tell him not to  _say it, don't say his name_ ,  _please_.

"There is a nation in our world with no personification." Germany had continued, and was concluding despite Alfred's silent pleas for him to stop, unable to voice himself in his fear, in his frozen state. And Gilbert was staring at Alfred as well, but Alfred's vision had narrowed its focus on Germany and Germany alone.

He couldn't let him do this.

Alfred couldn't be known for who he really was.

His view of the world had centered in on Germany, not even paying mind to anything else, it was the worst case of tunnel vision the hunter had ever felt.

If Germany said his name aloud in reference to Alfred, then all of this would be for nothing. As the Goddess had said-  _"Not one of them could ever say that you, Alfred F. Jones, are America until after your end of the deal is held up."_

"All of this must mean…" And Germany's eyes opened suddenly, looking at him in stark confusion and realization. "That…you are…!" Alfred's gun was out in the heartbeat that Germany started to mouth his cursed name, anger and rage and hurt all fueling him and driving logic to the back of his mind as he took the safety off his weapon, everything else seeming so far away.

They weren't allowed to utter the name! Alfred wasn't that any longer!  _He couldn't be their America, or all of this was for naught._

"Stop! Alfred!" That voice was so far away- so far away that Alfred could barely hear it even as he pulled the trigger and the silence that had immediately followed was absolutely deafening, damning him even without him realizing what had happened.

He had fired the shot to prevent Germany from uttering his name aloud, the cursed name that he had been banished from the world for having. He had fired the shot to save this world that he and all of his loved ones had suffered so long for. He had fired to kill Germany so that they could keep going.

However, he realized that it wasn't red blood that was dripping onto the ground, and that it wasn't Germany in front of his gun any longer.

And that meant that it wasn't Germany who had taken the shot.

He comprehended who was standing in front of his line of fire just as the man spoke. "We had a good run, didn't we Al?" Gilbert said, coughing up his blackened blood, making more of it drip to the floor.

Alfred dropped his gun, his eyes wide in horror. It as too much, too much- The man had been the only one left- the only one who had understood, the only one who supported Alfred, the only one who was actually Alfred's friend!

Without him, Alfred truly had no one.

Gilbert winced in sudden pain, Germany staring in route horror at the scene playing out before him. "Ah…that one…was through the brain, wasn't it…?" The zombie asked with a dull smile, but already knew the answer. Alfred stared, gaping at his one friend in this whole world. "We…we did, right?" Gilbert wheezed. "It'll be fine…right? I mean…it was worth it…Life, life was worth it." He laughed even as he cried his black blood; the rotted, curdled part of him was dripping on the concrete in place of Ludwig's red blood, fresh and untainted. "It was worth it…"

Alfred rushed over to his side as Gilbert collapsed, and he gripped his hand tightly as he cradled the zombie's body to his own, not caring that he was getting his rotten blood all over his shirt. "Dammit Gilbert! Why did you stop me?" He shouted, and the zombie looked at him quietly, before his lips turned up in a half grin.

"Because… it felt  _right_ , Al… That Germany, that Ludwig…he doesn't know this suffering…he doesn't. And…he won't ever  _need_  to." And he smiled. "And I…. I wasn't able to protect my lil' brother…hell, I was the one who brought the disease to the nations…" The zombie coughed more of his black blood onto his front; shaking his head as he smiled sardonically, looking to Alfred with quiet, calm eyes. "So…I…I wanted to protect him…even, even if it's not actually him…I needed to do it… just one… one… last… t…ime…" Gilbert breathed out his last words as he died, his red eyes half-lidded.

Just like all the others, his dead, monstrous flesh melted away the moment after he closed his eyes to reveal what he had looked like in his lifetime, before his form faded from Alfred's sight, leaving him with nothing all over again.

Gilbert- his only friend left, the one person he hadn't entirely failed… was  _dead_.

He had died Alfred's own hand, from Alfred's own gun. If it had been a shot from anyone else, anyone  _besides_  Alfred, Gilbert would have lived, but because it was from Alfred, it meant that he had died, truly and honestly.

And Alfred screamed at the Goddess, damning her for doing this to him, railing at her cruelty in leaving him to his fate, this world that she had created for him had been based upon a falsehood, a double-crossing that was honestly so terrible, given that Alfred had only wanted to save them. How dare she do this! He had sacrificed  _everything_  so that they wouldn't have to suffer as they had in the other world, and yet they continued to suffer, and die and suffer and die and kill!

And it had been his only friend, the only one he hadn't  _failed_  that had died, had been killed by Alfred's own hand, and it wasn't fair! It wasn't fair that Gilbert had died, Alfred's only remaining hope, the only thing that kept him going despite all that they had suffered for this world.

Alfred had sacrificed  _everything_  for his loved ones, for them to be able to live again, free of that world, and now they were unable to be free from that suffering. If it were only Alfred that had suffered, he would have been fine, but no! If Alfred had disappeared, then it would be fine!

They had never been freed at all! They had continued to suffer, and suffer, and kill and die!

They had been sent from one layer of hell to another. At least in the other world there had been the release of death, and only one death. In this new hell, they would just keep on coming back, and there was no end in sight for anyone.

It would have been better if this world had never been born of the deal. He would rather it have ended there than allowed this to happen to them.

He stared owlishly at Germany, the Ludwig who was  _not_ his Ludwig. The new Germany- Free from suffering and pain who all of them had encountered in the other world, like Alfred had felt, Gilbert had felt, and Ludwig and Arthur and Francis and Yao and Ivan and Kiku and Lovino and Feliciano and Antonio and and and and and and-

Alfred's mind had finally cracked. He only realized it after the fact, laughing hysterically as his mind just kept going on and on and on about all the things that would have been better had he never made the deal, and he saw his way out with a broken smile.

And and and and and and and and-

"All I have to do…. is give up, right?" He asked himself out loud, reveling in the fact that there was power in this resignation.  _Gilbert had said it himself._  Becoming  _mindless_  meant that Alfred wouldn't  **suffer**  anymore. Becoming a monster meant that he wouldn't have to be  **alone**  anymore. He wouldn't know anything, and he wouldn't feel anything.

By giving in, he would finally be with his loved ones again, not to kill them, but to assist them in destroying this world.

He'd finally be free.

He saw Arthur from the corner of his eye-  _his_  Arthur- his beloved-, with blades for hands, and he saw him slice Germany's throat, the cut to the jugular sending out a huge wave of blood as he collapsed altogether, the man's eyes wide in horror that Alfred didn't quite understand. Gilbert had died because he had protected this man, this man that had doomed his own timeline, his own kind.

And his beloved Arthur  _smiled_  at him, enticing Alfred to join him, become his  _lover_ , his companion in a new, beastly form.

Alfred let himself go, and allowed himself to feel no more, to  _think no more_ , his body and mind being swallowed up whole in the darkness, his very  _being_  finally consumed with the despair and madness that he had been spared from in the past.

_All he had ever needed to do was give up._

The animal that he had turned himself into howled into the night.


	5. Act IV

They hadn't been prepared for this.

The meeting had started, despite the lack of the monster hunter Alfred Jones, and Germany. Though it was unfortunate that Germany wasn't there, Prussia had been plenty willing to stand in his place. The other German country, though certainly not as powerful as he once had been in his empire days, had gladly decided to represent both nations, and begun the meeting.

However, after they had started, they had started hearing screams from outside the building. Looking down out of the UN Building in New York, they had seen the giant beast.

A black wolf, with piercing, judgmental blue eyes had been rampaging outside of the UN building.

"Fuck!" England shouted. "Where is Jones?" He yelled his question at France, his rival and friend still shooting at the beasts in front of him as Arthur struggled to fight them off with his own guns.

France glared at him, before speaking in the common tongue. "You know as well as I do that I never bothered with your poor excuse of a language, England!" He shouted back, just as frustrated as England was with the sudden lack of Jones, the mysterious monster hunter, and the only person who had ever managed to kill one of these beasts.

However, the doppelganger had appeared, and Arthur barely had time to shout out a warning to Francis before he the homicidal lookalike was upon him.

Thankfully, the Frenchman had just enough time to draw his sword, and met it with the blades of Arthur's monstrous counterpart.

But, he wasn't always that fast. Though Francis had blocked the first blow, he cried out a loud, "Fuck!" He then gasped in pain, as blades jumped out from the main form, and stabbed him from all sides, killing him moments later.

England pushed him to the side to take on both the giant wolf that had emerged from nowhere because his doppelganger with the blades for body parts were now fighting alongside the wolf- the large creature not attacking the fellow monster beside him and leaving England to battle them both.

"Alfred!" He shouted, in sudden desperation, switching from the last name to his first name unconsciously.

As the battle continued, the nation realized he had gone too far, had pushed him too much when Canada had already warned him that the man seemed to be on the verge of total collapse, and that there world was simply doomed when he finally did collapse. "Where are you Alfred? I need  _you_!"

There was no answer, but for the wolf's sharp blue eyes boring into his soul judgmentally.

He didn't really want to imagine why those blue were so familiar to him- he didn't even want to address that thought.

If that thing was Alfred, they were already doomed.

XXXXX

" _Alfred! You simply cannot be independent, I won't allow it!" England's voice had been harsh, and it had been the only time that he had bothered to look at the boy this whole time. That was all he saw Alfred as, right? As a child- as thing to be taken, to be owned and put on a pretty little shelf to show on display, he was to be seen and not heard._

_Alfred's teeth were set on edge, and his hands were fisted. "I wish I had never picked you over France, you fucking bastard!" He had said, and stormed off, only to be caught by England, who was sure to punish him for his impertinence, but when his enraged blue eyes met Arthur's, he only saw pain._

_He flicked off the old man in a moment of rash anger, refusing to meet his eyes as Arthur seemed to struggle for coherent words, and Alfred took the chance to turn away from him altogether._

_However, he heard Arthur's cough, and he turned around to face him, feeling how his blue eyes were hardened in their anger and on the edge of tears._

" **I need you, Alfred!"**   _The words weren't in synch with Arthur's enraged face, the rant missing from the audio in this memory. Was this a memory? He hadn't thought of it as so, until it became apparent to him that this was a memory._

_Where was he, if not in Revolutionary times?_

_Hadn't he…hadn't he already declared his independence…?_

_It was hard to think._

XXXXX

"Damn you, fucking useless French bastard!" Arthur growled as Canada dragged France away from the battle, and he saw Russia step in, helping him battle off the wolf, but the wolf only seemed to get further angered by his presence, agitated enough to blindly lunge at Ivan, the Russian nation barely escaping the wrath of the monster altogether.

However, it wasn't that simple. The thing turned on a dime and bit into his shoulder, nearly ripping Ivan in half and surely killing him in one foul bite.

It tossed the Russian to the side, and set its sights back on where England was shooting at his thick hide, damning the fact his guns weren't even working against the damned monster.

He knew that only Alfred's guns could kill the beast, only Alfred could do it- but where was the bastard? Where had he gone?

"Alfred! Fuck! Where have you run off to, Jones?" He shouted, having no other way of contacting him now.

Why had Alfred, the man in his dreams, left him alone again?

_He was sorry._

_Please, come back._

_He was scared of being alone._

XXXXX

" _You're mine." Alfred's voice had been slick with jealousy and possessiveness, driven half-mad by the anti-communist propaganda in his country._

" _Yours- I'm yours." Arthur groaned in response, in_ _ **need**_ _, his voice husky with arousal while Alfred fucked him raw, his crazed blue eyes staring straight into Arthurs, the two stuck in missionary position as the Cold War caused him to lose almost all of his humanity and leave him nothing but his most_ _ **base**_ _emotions._

_Arthur had groaned, and Alfred kissed him roughly, before moving down his body and biting his neck with enough force to break the skin, making Arthur's breath hitch- too turned on to feel the pain of the injury._

_As Alfred pulled away and growled, however, once again, the words were out of synch than with the mouth of the Arthur that arched obediently underneath him. "_ **Jones! Fuck! I can't do this!"**

_That voice wasn't part of this memory either. Where was Alfred? This wasn't it. This wasn't this timeline- that was right. This memory was wrong now, wasn't it?_

_It wasn't even really a memory; it was a fantasy of something that could never be anymore._

_That begged the question- if this was a memory or a dream- how was he supposed to wake up? If this was a fantasy, what is it a fantasy of?_

_It was hard to think, and Alfred didn't really…know if he wanted to remember how he knew this wasn't something meant to be any longer._

XXXXX

"Yao! Get him back!" England said, taking Japan's sword from the place where it had fallen in Japan's fatal fight with the blade monster and simultaneously firing his gun at the wolf, which was pacing around him to try and get a better angle on him, waiting for the moment where Arthur would be unprepared for teeth through his body to slice his skin and break his bones. But until that moment, he was going to fight, dammit!

"Jones! Please, I need your help! _I'm sorry_!" He was begging now, the other nations falling left and right, humans fleeing the scene as England stood on his last legs, trying to at least stall the monsters path of destruction.

He had to stop him! He had to figure out how to reach him.

_Alfred! Where are you, where were you then, too? Were you him as well?_

_The one who never came for England_ _**then** _ _as well?_

XXXXX

" _I love you, Alfred." Arthur breathed into his neck as the two laid on the boat together, the gentle rocking of the ocean lulling them into a comfortable silence, broken only by Arthur's words._

" _I love you too, Arthur." Alfred had answered immediately. The two of them were the last ones-the last ones alive, the last ones who were human. The rest were dead or…well…monsters._

" _Please, promise me, Alfred." Arthur murmured tiredly. "This Goddess is going to send us back in time. So, promise me this… That…if you are the one able to go back in time, that you'll learn to love me?" His green eyes were bright._

" _Shouldn't we both go back in time?" Alfred was flabbergasted with the words of his beloved, and Arthur shook his head._

" _No, we'd cause too much turmoil if we were both in the past." Arthur closed his eyes. "And…I don't think I could live through the years where you were a child, knowing what I do now about you…"_

_Alfred snickered lightly. "Gross, Art." He said teasingly, causing the other ex-nation to go red in the face._

" _Why!" He huffed, indignant. "Ugh. What I mean is…. please. Learn to love me."_

" _Arthur, I already love you." He grinned, confidently. "I love you more than life itself." His beloved smiled, though the motion was weak, and then he moved onto Alfred's chest, putting his ear against Alfred's heart, listening to the steady noise._

" _I hope that continues to be true." Arthur murmured, closing his eyes as the two finally fell asleep underneath the stars. "I don't think I could have managed if I had never known you, Alfred…you're so bright, and you gave me a happiness I had never known before in my life- I hope you know that I've always adored you…"_

_And then, the scene changed, and they were in the field- Arthur was sitting in front of him, crying. "The child…the child…" There was no child in this timeline, Alfred knew. This timeline was the "right" timeline now- this was the past of his current reality. "They said there would be a child! Where is my child?"_

_There was no child, because of the deal Alfred had made._

_Alfred stood over him, mirroring his own memories, where Alfred, a young boy, trusting the man before him, saw Arthur crying, and took his hand, choosing him over a competitive Francis._

" **I'm sorry!"** _He heard the words that didn't match the period, as he looked upon England's fallen form, the man crying and asking why, why this had happened._ **"I'm sorry, please, Alfred!"** _Alfred knew it then- the voice the voice that was cutting into the memory with words that weren't supposed to be a part of it._

_It was England- he was calling to him, begging for him to help him, Alfred knew now. He was screaming for help from Alfred from the other side. Even now, England wasn't able to do this sort of thing on his own. He was always a useless idiot, even when he had known Alfred as he once was._

_He was still the boy sitting in the field, except now it wasn't England and France, it was the monster his lover Arthur had become, the England who no longer needed him, and an England that was crying because he had never known the boy who had proven to matter so much to him time and time over._

_And Alfred knew that he would always choose England, the crying man in the field, ready to give up._

" _ **Please, learn to love me?"**_

_Green eyes that he had spent so much time loving in the past haunted him._

_Alfred had forgotten Arthur's request, in favor of trying to do as the Goddess had told him to. He had never known this new Arthur- he had pushed him away, over and over again, which was the opposite of what his beloved had asked of him. His heart ached as he watched the new Arthur destroy himself, even as he attempted to keep his patchwork heart together._

" _ **Jones**_ _!"_

_However…though he had failed in that request- he had always loved Arthur, and he would_ _**always** _ _choose Arthur- he would choose the crying man in the field, since he knew deep down in his bones that Arthur was_ _**meant** _ _for him. Even though he had failed him because he had left him alone- he wasn't going to let him die._

_He wasn't going to fail that man ever again._

And with that, Alfred broke free of the madness that had claimed him.

XXXXX

_They had been running, and they had managed to get to the bottom level before Alfred had barred the door, preventing the monsters from getting in from the main entrance, with directions to get around and get into the parking garage._

_He had showed up with Francis and Victoria, the three of them having been forced to take another way by the crowd, and Alfred had immediately run to his brother, and pulled him into a tight embrace, feeling his shaking form and pounding heart- a reminder of how he was still human._

" _Oh Al." Matthew had said, so glad to see him, alive and human. "God, I was scared when you and I got separated…thank God Francis saw where you guys were going- I wouldn't have managed to find you."_

" _We're together." Alfred said, firmly. "Arthur and I had found Thomas and Jett here with their siblings, and I suggested we get to the parking garage, and take someone's car, and go out west- Get away from the cities, yanno?"_

_Matthew agreed, trying to force himself to calm down, and having a hard time, but Alfred was taking control- he had to. They had to_ _**live** _ _; he wasn't going to see them die here. Not now. Alfred wouldn't accept anything less than survival._

" _Alfred, it'll be alright, right?" Matthew's voice had been shaky as he looked to his brother for support._

_Thomas was similarly left afraid, and confused, as Jett helped strap his family into the car Alfred had found in the parking garage at the meeting building in DC. "God, this is so fucked up…what do we do?"_

" _We get going." Alfred said, firmly. "Arthur, you're in my car, right?" He called to the man, and looked to where his lover was standing, seeming to shock the man out of something._

" _Ah…Alfred?" He said, and Alfred nodded sharply._

" _C'mon, Artie. We need to get going…it's not safe here now."_

" _Right." Arthur said slowly, not even rising to the nickname, walking to the oversized car as Francis came back with a haul from the basement of the building, looking triumphant as he brought a straggler with him._

" _I found Peter!" He shouted to them, and Jett ran over to the shell-shocked boy, quickly fretting over him, putting him on his back before running him back to the car._

" _Hey, scamp!" Jett beamed at the boy with all of his usual cheer. "C'mon, I got your pals in the car, we're getting out of here."  
_

" _Do you know where the Nordics are…?" Matthew had asked gently, but Peter only shuddered, his eyes closing as tears started to fall once again, and Matthew, Thomas, and Jett went to comfort the 12-year-old micronation._

_Alfred knew that the answer was the Nordics were either dead, or monsters now, but he wrapped his arm around his beloved, the man still shocked as he was led to the car._

" _Man, Arthur, you look like you've seen a ghost!" He tried to be playful, but Arthur shook his head._

" _No…Alfred…it's more like…I'm not seeing…any ghosts." He murmured. "I…I can't see them any more. My fairy friends- They've disappeared." His voice was hollow, and Alfred frowned, hurting to see Arthur so upset._

" _Well, don't worry about them." Alfred kissed his forehead. "After all, you've got me, right?"_

" _Well…I do, but…"_

" _But what?" He asked, trying to find out why he was so bothered by it, and Arthur simply looked away, uncertain._

" _Well…I just think that…perhaps this is all more serious than we originally thought… I can't help but have a bad feeling about this, Alfred…" Arthur looked at him with concern, and Alfred ignored the sinking pit in his stomach as well._

" _Don't worry, Arthur. You'll be fine! I promise. Through hell and high water, I'll be with you. If you die, let there be no mistake that I'll be close behind you!" He kissed Arthur on the lips, and his beloved melted into the motion._

_Alfred still heard the quiet words that Arthur said after though._

" _Let's just hope that is not exactly what waits for us at the end of this, darling…"_

XXXXX

His eyes opened, their fury cooling suddenly as he regained a semblance of control of himself, and he saw England fighting them both off, Arthur and himself, and he was  _losing._ The monstrous version of himself paused and looked at England and Arthur, England clearly almost at the end of his rope. He felt how the child empathized with him, and also knew and  _felt_  that this man had rarely ever seen that fairness. France had had so much, what had England had then?

" _Please, learn to love me?"_

" _No! It's not too late- I, Arthur, I love you, I can't lose you!"_

" _They said there would be a child! Where is my child?"_

" _Of course, Arthur… I love you! I'd never leave you!"_

" _I don't want to be a monster, Alfred…Please…_ _ **kill me**_ _."_

" _Arthur, we still have each other. Come on, we can still fix this, I know we can…"_

" _T-this is a little less hard, knowing that…that I…I still h-have you…"_

" _You…you used to be so big…England."_

The voices, the sins and mistakes and joys of the past, they surrounded him and threatened to drown him as he watched the battle between his past and a future he couldn't ever be apart of.

England was losing, and he needed help  _now_ \- or he would die to the past- to Alfred's past, to Alfred's mistakes.

" _Through hell and high water, I'll be with you- 'til death do us part, yanno? And if you do, die, let there be no mistake that I'll be right behind you!"_

Heh…Alfred had a choice to make didn't he?

_And he would always choose England, wouldn't he?_

His mind played the phrase he had said that day he had finally broken free of the tyrant on repeat, the wolf waiting as he halfheartedly thought it all over.

Arthur looked at him rather than England, his poison green eyes maddened, the beast confused as to what the monster that was once the man he loved, and still loved, madly and deeply, ( **they could be together again, now and forever** ,  **but**   **still**   _stop stop stop, you're_   _corrupting him more, you selfish bastard stop stop stop!_ ) but his face contorted into anger, losing his human appearance and becoming the demon that he had been turned into in the other world, prepared to attack England if the giant wolf of Alfred moved to protect him rather than kill him.

However, Alfred then turned to England, and nodded, his blue eyes unable to cry in this monstrous form as he finally understood his end goal, his final sacrifice to the new world. His last blessing, though it had been disguised as a curse for so long.

He had to mean  _nothing_ \- not to anyone he had once known, and that would be his salvation. He knew that if Arthur, his Arthur, remained alive, he would still know Alfred as he once was.

So- they had to die, once and for all.

They had to end it here- Alfred, had to end it here.

He had done all of this for Arthur- and Arthur had two dying wishes. The first was that Alfred kill him, so that he wouldn't be a monster. And the second… well- it rang in his ears, telling him exactly what he needed to do.

" _Please, learn to love me?"_

And with the final memory going through his mind, the memory of Arthur and him on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, where Arthur had told Alfred to learn to live with the new timeline… the giant hound turned suddenly, rounding onto Arthur- and he bit Arthur Kirkland in half, his once beloved gasping as the evil dripped off him like acid as he died, melting the parasitic monster. This left the man that had been beneath smiling weakly, gasping as he thanked Alfred for finally letting him go, though the anguish in his expression was hard to miss.

He mouthed something, and Alfred knew exactly what he had said as his beloved vanished before his eyes.

" _I'll be waiting for you, love."_

Alfred made good on his promise by biting his own leg off, and tossing it to the side, causing his gigantic wolf form to collapse.

This would be the end! This would be their salvation!

And the new nations- unharmed by the suffering of Alfred's past- could begin to heal now that the monsters were defeated.

Alfred could already feeling the air around him burning as he felt the life leaving him and being thrust into the new world all over again, and he passed out.

XXXXX

_It had been a moment's nostalgia during the final year of their timeline._

_Arthur had been visiting him, as they watched the news about the spread of this disease in humanity._

" _Mm, that's not good, now is it, love?" Arthur tutted, and Alfred nodded, a frown creasing his face._

" _No, they have no idea what's causing it either…" Alfred sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "They haven't been able to determine death counts yet, but its going to be high…"_

" _I'm sure modern science will find a solution. There's no way that this will be the end of the world, you should know that it takes a little more than a strange disease to destroy humanity, mmm?"_

_Alfred had to laugh at that, getting up and turning off the news. "You should know- you lived through the Black Death and all." He joked. "Old man."_

_His lover looked at him, righteously indignant with the treatment, and he huffed. "Well… Either way. It's our anniversary today, don't you know? So…" He swallowed thickly. "So, I wanted to do something to remind you of how we started to date."_

_The American grinned. "But we're married, surely you remember that I proposed to you in the fireworks, right?" He said, gesturing to the gold ring on his finger._

" _Well, I much preferred your original method, despite how cheesy it was…" Arthur muttered, shaking his head as he turned on something on the loudspeakers via iTunes._

_Alfred went flush as he almost immediately recognized the song from the 2001 movie, Moulin Rogue that Arthur had almost always claimed to hate for being staged in France._

" _ **Never knew I could feel like this…like I've never seen the sky before**_ _…"_

" _Don't give me that look!" Arthur quipped. "This was originally written for Romeo and Juliet anyway!"_

" _What look?" Alfred said with a small, innocent grin, playing dumb. "Kidding. I know how you work, babe." Arthur made a strangled noise of frustration, shaking his head at the man and giving him the evil eye, making Alfred laugh hard._

" _ **Want to vanish inside your kiss…everyday I love you more and more**_ _…"_

_Alfred took his hand again, bringing him close with a confident hand on Arthur's back._

" _ **Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing**_ _?"_

_His beloved smiled as Alfred indulged them both in a gentle, familiar kiss, a familiar smile playing on his face as_

" _ **Telling me to give you everything**_ _…"_

_They had been so in love- they had only married in 2015, when the legislation had gone through in the US. They had been married for 5 years, when the end of the world happened. Alfred had felt he could never have enough of Arthur. He loved him so much, every day that he had woken up with his beloved at his side…it had been a treasure._

" _ **Seasons may change winter to spring…"**_

_The American nation turned Arthur slowly, the two dancing slowly and sweetly, reminding that no matter what, they had each other._

" _Hey, promise me, Al." Arthur whispered. "That you will always love me? I don't know what I'd do without you, idiot though you may be…"_

" _ **But I love you…until the end of time**_ _…"_

" _That's an easy thing to do, of course, Arthur." Alfred's voice had been confident, warm and the sound of his confession of love had reverberated in Arthur's chest, making Arthur's breath hitch in response, thanking him in a soft voice._

_The Brit's hands curled into the fabric of Alfred's shirt, the younger bringing him into his chest, hugging him close as though he was trying to shield them both from the future._

" _ **Come what may**_ _."_

_The world was utterly destroyed in a year from that moment- in the literal sense and the metaphorical sense, for Alfred._

_He had lost his friends, his family, and then his lover._

_Arthur's face had been so peaceful in death, but since his body didn't disappear like nations usually did, Alfred had made a funeral pyre for the man he had loved so much._

_He had been so ephemeral, the feeling had felt so unreal, it was as though he could simply wake up, and this would have all been a bad dream._

" _ **Come what may**_ _."_

_Arthur had told him to go on without him- to learn to love the new timeline, no matter what happened to him. So, despite the tears on his face, he solidified his need to fix this, change fate, and stop this from happening._

_He stood, and started to walk, tears drying as he felt the heat of the burning fire behind him start to become less intense, the farther he walked from it, and the cold growing inside of his being, along with the determination to change fate._

_This life wasn't worth living without Arthur in it, Arthur, for all of his stubbornness and irritability...he had been Alfred's everything._

_Once he had managed to get to Arthur's house, he found the book just where Arthur had told him it would be, and opened to the page that Arthur had specified, and made the preparations._

" _No matter what, okay?" Arthur had murmured into his chest as they watched the news. "I have a feeling that this disease…might be more potent than anything we've seen before, but…promise me, Alfred. That you'll stay with me. No matter what, we'll stay together."_

" _Of course, Arthur… I love you! I'd never leave you!" Alfred had kissed him reassuringly, the older man, his lover leaning into the motion and taking comfort from it._

_As the end of the world enveloped him, Alfred slowly chanted the enchantment, the need to be with Arthur again, the need to fix this so that Arthur never would die, never would suffer like he had… it filled him, making fear leave him, something deeper than any despair this world could offer him, and more powerful than his hope that they could make it out alive._

_He had to fix this. He had to. Alfred wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't._

_His love, his will for Arthur to live, and be happy- had given him the strength to call upon magic even though he lacked most magical qualities._

" _ **I will love you…"**_

_His love for the other, the man that he had married, meant that Alfred would give_ _**anything** _ _to make sure that Arthur would be alive and happy._

_The Goddess appeared before him, and Alfred closed his eyes and breathed in a deep breath._

" _I require tribute, before I grant you with my council." The voice was deafening and yet soft, and Alfred was convinced that the sound was originating in his mind._

_The young man had swallowed thickly._

_Even if it meant that Alfred couldn't be at his side again. As long as Arthur was alive and happy…_

_Then Alfred would be happy too._

_He handed the Goddess his and Arthur's wedding bands, a symbol of how deeply Arthur and him had desired to live, and how much they had loved one another._

_She eyed them, before smiling in an almost animalistic fashion. She never reached out to take the rings; the gold bands simply vanished in Alfred's grip, leaving him with nothing but the hope that this would_ _**work** _ **.**

" _Now, the once immortal being America has graced my presence with a tribute of items so filled with emotion, that I willingly make an exception for the lack of magical capacity." She murmured, her smile so_ _ **inhuman**_ _in such a palpable way, but yet somehow was utterly indescribable. "What wish fills your heart with such emotion that you are willing to make a deal with the likes of me?"_

" _I want to go back in time, and make sure that this can never happen again. I want to change the fate of this world- I…I want to make sure that they live this time, without having to suffer."_

_The Goddess had considered him for a moment, before she nodded._

" _I can grant your wish, Alfred F. Jones, but there will be a great cost to yourself."_

_Arthur's face, stilled in death, the voice of his beloved telling him to change fate for them both, telling Alfred to do this, and stop it all from happening."_

" _I'll do anything to save them from this." Alfred's voice was hardened in determination. "Anything at all."_

"… _ **Until my dying day**_ _."_

XXXXX

The giant wolf he had been fighting howled in mourning, while England was left staring at the beast, unable to believe what had happened. One monster- the wolf- had turned on his doppelganger monster, and had destroyed him.

His disbelief faded as he saw the beast rip his own leg open, blood spilling out, and Arthur could only stare while the events pressed on.

The beast, the giant wolf, melted back into Alfred F. Jones, the hunter who had held England at arms distance for so long. And he collapsed.

"Alfred F. Jones! What on earth? What have you done? Alfred, answer me! Answer me- Goddamnit-!" Arthur raced to his side, and pulled the man onto his lap, only to feel Alfred's cool, dying lips against his, the man having forced him down into a kiss, shutting him up.

"Heh…" Alfred laughed a bit, the sound painful. "I had to…yanno, you're useless on your own, Artie…" Alfred paused, the affection fading from him, as he seemed to realize the truth of the situation they were in, before looking at him tiredly. "Ah…that's right…you're not…him." Alfred closed his eyes, and smiled, though it was filled with unspoken pain. "A-and…I'm sorry I never got to know you. I think…after this…you'll know why… I wanted to tell…but…."

"You're a hero." Arthur found himself saying to cut Alfred off despite himself, the words somehow feeling right on his lips. "You're a hero, Alfred." The English nation squeezed his hand tight, making blue eyes-when did they get that blue?- look up into green, seeing them both, one he had loved, and one he had barely known, but Arthur was unaware of that dichotomy in the eyes of the dying man, simply holding his hand while he watched Alfred- the only one he had ever known- slip away in front of him.

It felt so unfair.

"Don't worry…now." Alfred gasped, clearly on the edge of death. His grey eyes had somehow become blue- matching the color of the sky almost perfectly. "I…. I have a feeling that…There…won't be…any other monsters…. not anymore." He smiled at England, and he was clearly seeing someone else. "I'll be with you soon, Artie." The man said, blue eyes sliding shut, his breathing slowing, his face still smiling, relieved and grateful this was all over. "I did it…I saved you…" He breathed one last breath, the words coming with it. "I…. saved…. everyone…."

"Thank you." Arthur whispered, before leaning into him, and stealing just one more kiss from the man beneath him after his heart had stopped.

With that, Alfred's entire body seem to reverse in time, his wounds leaving his body, revealing him to look healthy-happy, even- the man on Arthur's lap still smiling enigmatically even as he vanished entirely, leaving Arthur behind forever.

Arthur stared at the sudden absence on his lap- where only a moment before the man of his dreams had lain across his legs, and then looked into the sky, and he cried out, railing against the unfairness of it all, clutching at himself in the hopes that Alfred might still be there with him, somehow.

It wasn't  _fair_.

Alfred, for all of his faults, had been a decent person. He clearly cared a good deal about those he trusted- and…and…

His lips had felt so completing on Arthur's own, but…that imagined future was gone- it had disappeared into the abyss much as Alfred himself had. His dreams had amounted to nothing, it seemed, since Alfred was dead- how could he have loved him,  _married_  him, if Alfred was dead?

_Why did he have to die?_

The sky's only answer was rain, turning blue skies cloudy and grey, soaking him to the bone and leaving him with nothing but sorrow, and the vague feeling of regret that he hadn't known him as much as he should have.


	6. Epilogue

It had been 20 years since Alfred F. Jones had died, and with him had left all the monsters, the creatures that had plagued them for so long simply vanishing from the earth's surface altogether. There had not been a single attack since the man that was Alfred F. Jones had killed England's doppelganger, and then himself.

What the nations had pieced together from the little they knew of the man was that, somehow, Alfred was a nation from another time, where things had gone horribly wrong. He had made some kind of deal with an omnipotent being, and he had returned to this world to save his friends, or the nations of his time. However, his friends, as Canada had explained, were none other than the monsters that he had been tasked with killing.

England could only figure that the man, Alfred- or America, as it had come to light from Germany and Canada's testimony- had needed to kill off Arthur's own monstrous counterpart, and then off himself. He had needed to accept that their deaths were meant to be, and then they could be saved from their continued suffering.

It was a truly terrible fate, one that was unmatched by any other evil fate he could imagine for a boy like Alfred, who, despite how he had been insufferable at times, had truly desired to save them all.

It was cruelty in its finest, to desire to save someone so much as to suffer for hundreds of years, only to find that the only solace was in death.

Arthur had to move on, he supposed, though something about the boy and his relationship with Arthur's doppelganger made the nation question what  _could_ have been between them, had America been there this whole time, or had Alfred survived his doomed quest.

He had plenty of experience in relationships and kissing, but…there was something about the way Alfred had kissed him that was so enchanting, so fulfilling…that Arthur couldn't really quantify that.

" _Shh…don't say my name, Arthur…you should know the rules of this place... I did all of this for you, after all… and it is what you asked for me to do…" Alfred whispered, his breath hot against Arthur's skin, something building in Arthur that hadn't been there before._

However, much like the original Alfred F. Jones, the new one showed up in time- and with a violent crash into Arthur's life- though this time, it was more literal than metaphorical.

"S'cuse me!" A hauntingly familiar American voice had sounded with a bright laugh that was completely unmarred by cynicism, and Arthur whipped around and saw a man riding a motorcycle burst through the crowded streets of New York, natives yelling harshly at the boy, who barely looked 19 or so.

It was none other than Alfred F. Jones, clearly on the run from several cops, the boy bright and so, so happy, so different from the time they had spent together in the brief time they had known each other.

"Get back here!" A policeman yelled and Alfred snickered, before being suddenly thrown off his bike, apparently having the wheel burst by a bullet, and he was thrown before Arthur with an expression of shock on his face, before grinning sheepishly up at the British man, shrugging as he brushed off his injuries, which would have been fatal to any human.

"That'll be enough, officers." Arthur said, commandingly. "I think we'll know what to do with this one."

"What gives you the right to take the kid! He was speeding 30 over!" The officers shouted in their discontent, and England glared.

"Be kinder to your own nation, morons. You're looking at the long-lost persona of the United States of America. Now look alive, will you?" He grumbled, and Alfred was gaping at him now. "Isn't that right, Mr. Jones?" England said, dryly, and Alfred paled.

"How d'ja know that?" He asked with wide eyes, still standing on a leg that was bleeding out.

England rolled his eyes. "Oh, belt up- if you  _weren't_  you'd have died from that." Arthur gestured, tapping the injury and making Alfred yelp in pain. "Like I said, I'll take him from here, officers."

The police backed off, and Arthur gripped the boy's wrist, leading him into the UN building. "Thanks!" Alfred said, still looking a bit freaked out. "I think… uh… but… but how…?" He grinned, nervous.

"My name is Arthur Kirkland, and I'm the representation of England. And I've waited a long time to finally see you like this, Alfred." He said, softly. "Though you probably don't remember, I've waited a long time to meet you again."

Alfred just stared, before the teenager suddenly fainted, Arthur dutifully catching him with a drawn-out sigh. "Goodness, you're more of a drama queen now than you were  _then_." He said, but simply called for assistance, Matthew paling as a man they had all thought dead was now held up by England, who was smirking in triumph.

"I guess you were right." Francis said as he waltzed up to the pair, ready to help Arthur carry the strange, new teenager that looked almost exactly like the man that had saved them all. "The man  _was_  too stubborn to die."

Arthur gazed upon a face that was nothing short of cherubic, far more innocent and  _happy_  than the man Arthur had known before, and he licked his lips, remembering the feeling of Alfred's powerfully reassuring lips against his own, even in the moments before Alfred had died.

"I suppose I'm grateful for that." Arthur whispered, and he felt the wind around them changing, settling once and for all.

It looked as though Alfred's sacrifice had created a fine world indeed.


End file.
